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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Srexley who wrote (184993)	9/22/2001 3:03:04 AM
From: Bud G	Respond to of 769670

Powell says U.S. 'forever grateful' for Canadian help... By JEFF GRAY Globe and Mail Update After meeting with Foreign Minister John Manley, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell thanked Canada at length for its help in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, appearing to respond to a controversy north of the border. "Canada was one of the first on the scene with all kinds of help for us in this time of crisis," Mr. Powell said Friday in Washington. His comments came on a day that some media and opposition politicians in Canada said Ottawa was snubbed in U.S. President George W. Bush's speech Thursday night to Congress in which he thanked a long list of countries but did not mention Canada. On Friday, Mr. Powell noted that Canadians took in stranded air travellers, that Canadian airplanes helped protect U.S. airspace, and that Canadian volunteers headed to New York to help. "We had medical support, offers of blood, offers of rescue, every imaginable offer we received from our Canadian brothers and sisters, and the American people will be forever grateful for that offer of support, and forever thankful," Mr. Powell said. "And we will never forget the images we saw of the 100,000 Canadians who assembled on Parliament Hill to pay their respects to their American brothers and sisters. "And this is a sign of the close relationship that exists between our two countries and our two peoples, a relationship that can never be weakened and can only be strengthened." Mr. Manley told reporters that the two men discussed Canada's "intention to remain firmly at your [Washington's] side as we pursue this campaign against terrorism." Asked what Washington expected from Canada in its war on terrorism, Mr. Powell would not go into specifics. "This is a campaign against terrorism that will have an intelligence component, a law-enforcement component, it may have a military component, financial component as we go at all the tentacles of terrorist organizations beginning with al-Qaeda. "And I am sure that Canada will offer their support in all of these areas," Mr. Powell said. Senior Liberals maintained Friday that Canadians shouldn't read anything into what some perceived as a snub in Mr. Bush's speech. "Get your minds out of this pettiness," Defence Minister Art Eggleton told reporters after Question Period when asked whether the President's speech was a snub. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien told reporters in Ottawa Friday that the President and his aides were operating under a lot of "stress" as they prepare to respond to the unprecedented terrorist attacks last week in Washington and New York. Mr. Chrétien said he didn't feel the omission was deliberate, and noted that he was the first foreign leader Mr. Bush spoke to by phone following the terrorist attacks. "He has called me many times and he was always extremely grateful for what Canada has done," Mr. Chrétien, who heads to Washington to discuss Canada's role in the U.S.-led fight against terrorism, said Friday. About 200 overseas flights bound for the United States were rerouted to Canadian airports when U.S. airspace was shut down after the four jetliners were hijacked on Sept. 11, and Canadians took in stranded travellers. The President's address to Congress laid out U.S. aims and spelled out an ultimatum for the Taliban, which controls most of Afghanistan and is harboring terrorist Osama bin Laden. Mr. Bush also thanked a long list of countries, including Australia and Britain — Prime Minister Tony Blair was in the audience — for their support during the crisis. But Canada was never mentioned. And although Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Eggleton did not appear concerned, callers on talk-radio shows and at least one tabloid headline slammed Mr. Bush for neglecting his neighbours to the north. The oversight was also noticed by opposition MPs. Former Alliance MP Chuck Strahl told Question Period that the speech showed that Washington was "underwhelmed" by Canada's help. Mr. Eggleton defended Canada's response, saying that Canada cared for thousands of stranded air travellers on the day of the crisis, readied CF-18 warplanes and increased its "intelligence analysis." "President Bush, in one of his first public statements, thanked Canada ... How many times does the honourable member think he needs to thank Canada? He knows we're there with them," Mr. Eggleton said in the House. Mr. Eggleton also confirmed Friday that the federal government is looking at deploying military forces overseas, while the investigation continued into a former Toronto man arrested in the U.S. for alleged terrorist links. globeandmail.com DT