More from the London Guardian on D-Dubya-I's historic visit to Europe.
Headline: Bush talks a different language
President rebuffs critics on first stop of Europe tour
Special report: George Bush's America
Ewen MacAskill in Madrid
Wednesday June 13, 2001
The Guardian
George Bush, standing yesterday in front of a fountain at the presidential palace in Madrid, delivered an uncompromising statement to Europe and sighed. He knows it is going to be a tough six-day tour.
No US president for decades, not even Ronald Reagan, has attracted as much unpopularity in Europe as Mr Bush and his brand of Texan redneck politics. On his first visit to Europe, he stood at a podium before the press in the grounds of the Moncloa palace and went through the issues that have brought him unpopularity, showing little willingness to be flexible.
And he smiled, benignly, because he knows that as the head of the world's only superpower, he will usually get his way, no matter how much Europe protests.
He said he would spend the necessary dollars to see if he could make the national missile defence programme work in order to protect the "freedom-loving peoples of the world from terrorism".
His favourite phrase, especially when struggling with a question, is "freedom-loving" people.
He used it again as he dismissed the anti-ballistic missile treaty that did so much to prevent mutual mass destruction during the cold war. The treaty was "a relic of the past - it prevents freedom-loving people from exploring the future", he said.
Such a blunt rejection of the ABM treaty holds up the prospect of a difficult meeting with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, in Slovenia, the final leg of his trip. Mr Putin does not accept that the ABM should be scrapped.
Mr Bush repeated that the Kyoto agreement on cutting carbon emissions was "unrealistic". And he justified the execution of the Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, saying: "Democracies represent the will of the people. The death penalty is the will of the people in the US."
There were protests: 1,000 activists, environmentalists and trade unionists demonstrated outside the US embassy after Mr Bush returned from his press conference. And the Spanish press, especially those on the left, were highly critical of Mr Bush.
But for most of the day, he was kept away from any location that might allow protesters to get near him. Security was tight throughout, with 1,200 Spanish and US security men dotted around.
He and the first lady, Laura, arrived aboard Air Force One at Madrid airport in the morning. Mr Bush, standing at the top of the stairs, surveyed the European landscape. Although his father was president and before that an ambassador, he has travelled little.
But he has been to the UK as well as Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, most of them on the same trip 10 years ago. It was disclosed yesterday that he will visit Britain next month.
Yesterday the Bushes visited the Zarzuela palace in Madrid to meet King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia and then flew by helicopter to meet the president, Jose Aznar, at the government's country retreat, described by the White House as a ranch, at Quintos de Mora near Toledo.
It is not clear why Mr Bush chose Spain as his first stop. His national security adviser, Condoleeza Rice, described it as a good example of a "successfully post-authoritarian transition". It is also one of the few countries in Europe that has a centre-right government.
Another reason may be that Mr Bush felt confident enough to try his Spanish, which, it turns out, is extremely limited. At the press conference with Mr Aznar, who appeared to have no hard feelings after Mr Bush the previous day called him Mr Anzar, the US president repeatedly tried out various Spanish phrases.
But within 20 seconds of Mr Aznar starting to speak, Mr Bush's comprehension was exhausted and he reached for an earpiece carrying a translation.
Today, he will be in Brussels discussing the future of Nato. The remainder of the trip takes in a European summit in Sweden and visits to Poland and Slovenia.
Mr Aznar gave Mr Bush a soft introduction to Europe. The divisions will become more obvious in the coming days. As a member of the White House press corps, which is much more derisory about this president than previous incumbents, shouted: "It is downhill all the way from now."
Swedish police said yesterday they had arrested five people suspected of plotting to sabotage the EU summit in Gothenburg, two days before Mr Bush's arrival there to meet the heads of state and government of the 15 member states.
Police said they had seized unidentified materials in a raid on an apartment and sent them for forensic examination at a laboratory which is responsible for analysing potentially hazardous materials such as explosives and poisons. The police declined to give further details on what they had found. |
