Posted on 11/18/2003 11:45:24 AM PST by areafiftyone
President Bush has landed at London Heathrow to begin his controversial state visit.
His arrival with Lady Bush on Air Force One triggered the start of the biggest security operation ever mounted in Britain for a visiting head of state.
The pair were being met by the Prince of Wales before a flight to Buckingham Palace in the presidential helicopter, Marine One, where they will be greeted privately by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
The number of police officers in the capital has been trebled for the duration of Mr Bush's visit. Half of all London police - 14,000 officers - will be working solely to protect the president.
But despite the heavy policing, a lone woman protester has raised fears about the effectiveness of security.
Veteran peace campaigner Lindis Percy, 61, managed to scale the railings at Buckingham Palace and stay there for two hours before coming down of her own accord.
She told Sky News: "There was very little security, which was deeply concerning.
'Insensitive visit'
"It is quite incredible that the British government has invited him especially at this difficult time of the conflict. So many people are against this war and against this visit," she added.
Mr Bush's three-day state visit is expected to be marked by massive demonstrations against the war in Iraq.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has given a message of support to protesters but urged them to remain peaceful.
"You have the moral high ground," he said in a statement. "You are protesting against an illegal war and occupation - and the world will be watching you."
But he added: "There will be no place for violence of any kind in London this week. Protests must be peaceful and within the law."
Mr Bush and his wife Laura will receive a private welcome from the Prince of Wales when they touch down on British soil.
'Right moment'
His formal schedule will begin Wednesday morning with a ceremonial welcome at Buckingham Palace and he is due to hold talks with Tony Blair at Downing Street on Thursday before visiting the Prime Minister's constituency of Sedgefield in County Durham on Friday.
The Met has reached an agreement with the Stop the War Coalition over the route of a protest march expected to bring tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets of London on Thursday.
Marchers will cross Westminster Bridge to file past Parliament and up Whitehall for a rally in Trafalgar Square shortly after Mr Bush's visit to Downing Street and Westminster Abbey, where he will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
But a new poll by ICM for The Guardian suggests that more British people (43%) welcomed Mr Bush's visit than opposed it (36%).
And Mr Blair has insisted he stands by the decision to invite Mr Bush to Britain.
"This is the right moment for us to stand firm with the United States in defeating terrorism, wherever it is, and delivering us safely from what I genuinely believe to be the security threat of the 21st century," he said.
"Now is not the time to waver, now is the time to see it through."
Dear President Bush,
I'm sure you'll be having a nice little tea party with your fellow war criminal, Tony Blair. Please wash the cucumber sandwiches down with a glass of blood, with my compliments.
Harold Pinter
Playwright
From next Sunday's New York Times:
Dear Ethicist:
Is it wrong to wish for the imminent death of a crazed evil man whose been diagnosed with a terminal disease?
Signed,
A Freeper
Ummm, you do know, don't you, that the supporing infrastructurte known as as 'cell sites' and the 'MTSO' (Mobile Telephone Swithing Office) function in tandem to provide cell phone service don't you?
And, in some countries, it's customary for cell phone companies to temporarily suspend service briefly while certain leaders fly in or out -
- Pakistan is one such country that has that practice for instance -
- this 'trick' is easily done while sitting at the proper terminal and logging in to the 'switch' at the MTSO and 'halting' the processing of calls handlede by that 'switch' ...
The far-left sees this threat as an attempt to keep the protesters away.
Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if half those idiots think that Bush had orchestrated the 9/11 attacks himself.
No, he wants to meet everybody who is not George Bush. Apparently he believes in the Jacques Chirac school of "whateverism" -- whatever George Bush is for, I'm agin' it.
I didn't know Bush liked his work that much from SNL.
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