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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bush Marking Memorial Day With Speech to WWII Veterans on Beaches of Normandy
Aired May 27, 2002 - 05:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is marking Memorial Day with a speech to WWII veterans on the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Mr. Bush's visit to France is the third stop of a four nation European tour.
And on the eve of his Normandy visit, President Bush and French President Jacques Chirac held talks on a number of issues.
CNN's senior White House correspondent John King joins us live from Paris with more on the talks and where the president is heading today.
Good morning, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Mr. Bush about to leave Paris for the rocky beaches of Normandy, a chance to look back. Very rare for the president to be out of the United States on Memorial Day, but Mr. Bush will visit those sites made famous 58 years ago, June 6, 1944. Mr. Bush will visit Utah Beach. He'll visit Omaha Beach. Also a tiny church in the town of St. Marie Eglise (ph), where much of the fighting took place in the early hours of the D-Day invasion.
Mr. Bush saying he wants to look back, pay tribute to the American servicemen who gave their lives here in some of the most decisive battles of WWII. Also a chance, though, for the president to look forward. In his conversations here in Paris yesterday with the French president, Jacques Chirac, who will accompany Mr. Bush today, on Memorial Day, the U.S. holiday, Mr. Bush saying a reminder of how the United States in the past has stepped up to help Europe in the fight for freedom.
Look for the president today to ask the Europeans to continue and expand their support as the United States now asks for their help in what Mr. Bush calls the global war on terrorism.
The main remarks from the president on this holiday traditionally delivered at Arlington National Cemetery back in the United States. Today Mr. Bush will visit the American Cemetery overlooking some of the sites of the key battles at Normandy; 9,386 American servicemen buried at the cemetery where Mr. Bush will deliver his remarks. About 4,400 Americans buried at another cemetery nearby; 14,000 more initially buried in that area. Their remains returned home at the request of their kin, a reminder of the price the United States paid when it entered WWII decisively to fight for Europe.
Again, as Mr. Bush pays tribute and looks back, also anticipate that the president will project forward now and say it is critical that the allies once again stay together in the fight against terrorism -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know it's time to remember our war heroes, John, but this FBI memo that's coming out, how much of an impact is it having overseas?
KING: Mr. Bush has been asked about the pre-9/11 knowledge and what the government knew and whether the government should have done more at several stops on this trip. Mr. Bush himself saying that the government is collecting its information and that he himself wants answers to those questions. He has talked about how the FBI and the CIA are now every day together in his morning intelligence briefing, as opposed to in the past when the government has admitted, the president has acknowledged the FBI and the CIA did not do a good enough job of communicating with each other.
There's a sticking point with the Congress on this issue, of course. The administration does not want a public investigation. It would prefer that the House and Senate Intelligence Committees continue to conduct their investigation and keep much of it in private. Certainly potential political fallout back home as the investigation continues. The president on the one hand says all those questions are legitimate, what did the government know, how did it handle the information.
On the other hand, he says it would be inappropriate to discuss all this in public, not necessarily just in the case of the FBI memo. The president more concerned about his CIA briefing and other intelligence materials being made public. But it has come up at the news conferences on this trip, but not in the president's official discussions with leaders. Those discussions focused almost exclusively on the war on terrorism and the deal that will be signed tomorrow in Rome, where NATO strikes a new partnership with Russia -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, John King reporting live from Paris this morning, thank you very much.
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