Bush Chickens Out of Speech to Parliament

[Theophylact]

Fears heckling by anti-war MPs. But then, Britain has a tradition of requiring its leaders to answer to questions.

[RayH]

I thought the US Secret Service had the right to shoot to kill!

[J-Excel]

Good point. Maybe they can keep that power when they come back and clean up the leftists in Congress too.

[shahani]

Bush will avoid any confrontation which exposes his Achielles Heel--in this case the unilateral invasion of Iraq.

[brandon184]

Britain has a tradition of requiring its leaders to answer to questions.

What a concept.

[MTAtech]

Once again, Bush yanks defeat out of the hands of victory.

[Atomic Rooster]

Yawn.

[Theophylact]

"Blair Says Bush's State Visit Comes at 'the Right Time' " (news article, Nov. 18) does not mention that the address that President Bush had been expected to give to members of both houses of Parliament has been canceled. I hear that it has been canceled because members of Parliament were likely to express their opinions.

Your readers should not go away with the impression that the protests are simply antiwar protests. The willful ignoring of international institutions and treaties is exemplified by the fact that the Iraq war was undertaken without a United Nations mandate. But there are plenty of other examples, from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change to the World Trade Organization rules on tariffs.

People in Britain want to be part of a world where globalization means that nations work on world problems together. We are sorry that our friend the United States is being led away from that position. We would have liked the chance to tell that to your president.

SUE MILLER
London, Nov. 18, 2003

The writer, baroness of Chilthorne Domer, is a member of the House of Lords.

[M_Six]

We would have liked the chance to tell that to your president.

Would have been a waste of breath. GW could not care less.

[Theophylact]

From today's Mirror:

With the hours ticking away, No 10 confirmed that details of Mr Bush's meeting with relatives of dead troops were still in the air.

Mr Bush wants to tell the families their loved ones died for a "noble cause".

Downing Street admitted the president would meet relatives, and soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, on Thursday.

But asked if that included relatives of troops killed in this year's Iraq conflict, Mr Blair's spokesman replied: "The precise composition is still being worked on."

It implied Mr Bush will not meet those bereaved families who believe the public was misled into conflict.

The Defence Ministry increased confusion by insisting all plans were finalised.

An official said: "There'll be a meeting between Mr Bush and some of the families who lost loved ones in Iraq. But we're not releasing information."