Bush hasn't done shiit in 4 years for N. Ireland,finally last week he mention it! President makes his pitch
President Bush speaks on the phone withe the Rev. Ian Paisley(Prick) on Friday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Bush urges Adams, Paisley to move forward
By Susan Falvella Garraty
sfgarraty@irishecho.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This week the White House said personal efforts by President Bush to prod the political parties in Northern Ireland toward reinstituting devolved government would continue as long as necessary. "He's just doing his part to help keep the process moving forward," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan of the president's telephone calls over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to both the DUP leader, Rev. Ian Paisley, and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.
"He emphasized the importance of both providing the leadership necessary to get this done," McClellan said.
According to Bush administration and Irish government officials, the process to restart the Northern Ireland executive had moved to such a critical stage that a nudge from President Bush could prove useful.
"We've been close before, but the mood music now seems very positive," one Irish official noted.
"Evidently the word's out that I made a phone call this morning," President Bush told reporters last Friday as he entered a coffee shop in Crawford, Texas, where he spent his Thanksgiving holiday.
"I was just trying to be a part of the process of getting both Ian Paisley's group -- Dr. Paisley's group -- and Gerry Adams's group to the table, to get a deal done," he said in reply to reporter's questions about his initial call to Dr. Paisley.
He said the majority of work being done to assist Northern Ireland's political parties in the restoration of the power-sharing agreement had come from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The president also spoke to reporters on Friday about current European efforts to have Iran honor its nuclear agreement.
"I appreciate the nations of Great Britain and Germany and France who are working to try to convince Iran to honor their international treaty obligations," Bush said. "The only good deal is one that's verifiable and I look forward to talking to the leaders of those countries."
One U.S. official said the sentiments Bush expressed about the Iran nuclear agreement could just as easily be applied to the concerns by Northern Ireland's unionists, who continue to have qualms over the process for IRA disarmament.
"We understand that they [unionists] want to have good, solid verifiable evidence that those weapons have been put beyond use," the official said.
The White House hopes the IRA will accept a plan that would have a Catholic priest and a Protestant cleric verify the destruction of IRA weapons.
British officials said there was hope that the power sharing executive could be restarted early in the new year, and that optimism led Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, to arrange the call between President Bush and Dr. Paisley.
Bush's input at this critical moment is seen to be part of the delicate choreography involved in moving the peace process forward.
Historically, Irish and British officials have timed White House intervention in the process in order to ratchet up pressure on both sides to overcome hurdles. However, since first coming into office in 2000, the Bush administration insisted that the State Department be in charge of the U.S. input in the peace process rather than running it from the White House. President Bush's recent efforts mark the first time he has picked up the phone and personally involved himself with the North's political parties.
Bush had been enjoying a quiet holiday at his Texas ranch and celebrated his twin daughters' 23rd birthdays. Dressed in a casual shirt following a morning of riding his bike and clearing brush on his ranch, he spoke about his telephone call to Dr. Paisley with reporters.
"Anything I can do to help keep the process moving forward, I'm more than willing to do so," Bush said.
The decision to have Bush weigh in on the matter had been considered "for a number of weeks" by both the Irish and British governments, an Irish official said.
The president telephoned Gerry Adams on Sunday from Air Force One has he returned to the White House from his ranch. White House officials said the president sounded the same themes to Adams as he had done during his telephone call to Paisley.
"The president didn't make specific proposals . . . [but] he offered his support and put a little pressure on them," the Irish official added.
President Bush has high standing with unionists, who admire his evangelical Christian faith and conservative Texan values. British officials here said Bush could be very useful in ppealing to the DUP because "they talk the same language."
At the same time, the official noted, Sinn Fein raises much of its money in the U.S. and literally cannot afford to disregard presidential persuasion.
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