Enlarge imageBy Randall Mikkelsen and Peter Graff
LONDON (Reuters) - George W. Bush has flown into Britain for a visit during which the U.S. president and his top ally Tony Blair will close ranks against a groundswell of protest over the Iraq war.
The two men may have hoped the trip would mark their countries’ victory side by side in Iraq, but increasing attacks on their occupying forces have dulled any sense of celebration and massive street protests await Bush in London.
Organisers expect up to 100,000 anti-war demonstrators to cap their protest by toppling a giant statue of Bush in Trafalgar Square on Thursday -- an echo of the toppling of a statue of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in April.
The first protest was staged in central London just as Bush’s presidential jet Air Force One touched down at Heathrow Airport at around 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday. About 1,000 demonstrators voiced their opposition to U.S. environmental policy.
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Meanwhile, Bush was given a red carpet welcome at Heathrow by heir to the throne Prince Charles and a Royal Air Force guard of honour. Bush and wife Laura then boarded a helicopter which flew them to Buckingham Palace, where they will stay.
If Prime Minister Blair is a reluctant host he has shown no sign of it, robustly defending his decision to defy other big European powers and support Bush’s war in Iraq.
"The prime minister believes this is precisely the right time for President Bush to be visiting this country," Blair’s spokesman said.
BUSH IS EQUALLY DEFIANT.
A senior official travelling with Bush on the presidential jet to London said he would tell the British people that there are times when the use of military force is necessary.
"History has shown that there are times when countries must use force to defend the peace and to defend values and he will say that we have to recognise that times will come when the use of force is necessary. It is never the first choice," the official told reporters.
London’s maverick Mayor Ken Livingstone has called Bush "the most dangerous man on the planet" and said that, even if asked, he would refuse to shake hands with the American leader.
Police are mounting a five million pound security clampdown, with weekend suicide bombings in Istanbul adding to the tensions.
British commentators say the visit will be uncomfortable for Blair -- under fire at home over Iraq, especially within his own left-leaning Labour Party.
But Blair has remained steadfast. In a key foreign affairs speech last week he said critics of the war should accept that Iraqis were better off without Saddam, and denounced what he called a "propaganda monster about America".
Despite much talk in the media about Bush’s unpopularity, a poll in the Guardian newspaper showed more British voters welcome the visit than reject it, and that 62 percent think America "a force for good, not evil, in the world".
Bush and Blair are expected to hammer out details of plans discussed last week for speeding up the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq to an interim government.
Blair will also hope to clinch a deal on British detainees at the U.S. camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There are now 10 Britons among more than 600 prisoners there, and London has complained about plans to try some under military tribunals.
Bush plans to meet relatives of British soldiers who died in Iraq and has put special emphasis on those meetings in interviews ahead of the visit. But relatives of fallen soldiers are now among the most potent critics of the war.
Blair will also hope for a concession over trade, but a U.S. official said before Bush’s arrival that no announcement on steel tariffs would be made during the visit.
