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American Morning

Bush in Europe: President Sightseeing in London

Aired July 19, 2001 - 09:10   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is sightseeing in London today, and he's going to visit the queen. The president's six-day swing through Europe is built around this weekend's summit with leaders of the world's most industrialized nations, known as the G8.

Our White House correspondent Kelly Wallace is traveling with the president and joins us live.

What a jolly day. What a wonderful day, Kelly. Good morning, good afternoon, where you are.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Well, good afternoon to you, Daryn.

As you noted, the president is definitely likely to get down to business really later this afternoon, when he sits down with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They will be meeting at the prime minister's official country home, known as Chequers, about two hours outside London. There they are likely to discuss some contentious issues, including the president's continued push for a missile defense system and also his continued opposition to that international treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol, to reduce global warming.

But as you mentioned, the president is first taking in some of the sites here at London, at this very hour. He and the first lady are having lunch with the queen at Buckingham Palace. Earlier, they toured the Cabinet War Rooms in the basement of the Treasury building here. These rooms, quickly put together back in 1939, to give then Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his staff a place to work and to protect them from the nightly German air raids.

While the president was inside getting that tour, outside, a group of demonstrators was protesting his position on a range of issues, including dealing with global climate change.

Another issue generating some protest here in London is the president's push for that missile defense system. The administration has said that speeding up deployment of such a system would put the Untied States in conflict with that 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and Russia in months, not years.

Nevertheless, though, the president is sounding somewhat optimistic, going into upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that meeting taking place on Sunday, in Italy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I look forward to having a good discussion with President Putin on missile defenses. I was pleased to see his comments. I want you all to remember that he was the first world leader to indicate that perhaps we needed to think differently about the new threats of the 21st century. He clearly talked about theater defenses, as well as the capacity to develop technologies to intercept missiles on launch. I still believe he understands that need. I look forward to discussing that with him in Genoa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: There is one issue, though, sort of ruffling the feathers of the president and the rest of his administration, and that is comments coming from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, the senator doing an interview with the newspaper "USA Today," in which he criticized the president's handing of international policy. He said, in essence, the United States is isolating itself, and in so doing, he believes, "We are minimizing ourselves."

The president reacted to that a short time ago. He said he believed that the senator was pretty much breaking longstanding tradition when it comes to bipartisan support for international policy, especially when the president is heading to a very important summit this coming weekend in Italy -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Kelly Wallace, in London. Kelly, thank you.

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