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American Morning
President Bush Will Deliver Major Speech
Aired November 19, 2003 - 08:05 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In just about half an hour, President Bush will deliver a major speech. It is the centerpiece of his state visit to Britain. The protests so far have been noisy, but they are just a fraction of what's expected tomorrow.
Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour joins us now from London -- Christiane, good afternoon where you are.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good afternoon.
And certainly the president and the public here has had the pomp of this visit. And now we are told that there's going to be the protests. Well, I'm going to get out of the way for a moment. We're on Trafalgar Square and the first beginnings of the protests have already started.
You can see that there's been a sort of colored dye to simulate blood thrown into one of Trafalgar Square's famous fountains and back just behind that, there have been several hundred to about a thousand people gathered as part of the Stop The War protest.
Now, it's also being called Stop Bush, this protest. Today's, we were told, was billed as more of a comical, light-hearted kind of alternative to what should have been a state procession. Because of security concerns, there has been absolutely no question about President Bush going with the queen in the horse drawn carriage, which is traditional for state visitors. So this protest is meant to sort of highlight that.
There have been a couple of grumblings in the British press that the presidential visit will be a visit by an invisible visitor because they're keeping him so far away from the public. For instance, he won't be doing any speech to parliament. That's, perhaps, more about public relations and security. There's concern that he may be heckled in the parliament because so many M.P.s oppose the war, even in Prime Minister Blair's party.
So he's not doing that. Instead, in half an hour, as you mentioned, there will be that formal speech at the banqueting hall in which he will discuss American foreign policy.
Now, it is American foreign policy, or, rather, Bush administration foreign policy, that is causing a great deal of unease and discomfort here in Britain. Britain, the staunchest ally. Prime Minister Blair standing close to President Bush throughout the Iraq war, providing not just political cover, but also troops to fight and now occupy Iraq. The people here are wondering whether they're going to get anything back out of this visit -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Christiane Amanpour reporting for us from London this morning.
Christiane, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 19, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In just about half an hour, President Bush will deliver a major speech. It is the centerpiece of his state visit to Britain. The protests so far have been noisy, but they are just a fraction of what's expected tomorrow.
Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour joins us now from London -- Christiane, good afternoon where you are.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good afternoon.
And certainly the president and the public here has had the pomp of this visit. And now we are told that there's going to be the protests. Well, I'm going to get out of the way for a moment. We're on Trafalgar Square and the first beginnings of the protests have already started.
You can see that there's been a sort of colored dye to simulate blood thrown into one of Trafalgar Square's famous fountains and back just behind that, there have been several hundred to about a thousand people gathered as part of the Stop The War protest.
Now, it's also being called Stop Bush, this protest. Today's, we were told, was billed as more of a comical, light-hearted kind of alternative to what should have been a state procession. Because of security concerns, there has been absolutely no question about President Bush going with the queen in the horse drawn carriage, which is traditional for state visitors. So this protest is meant to sort of highlight that.
There have been a couple of grumblings in the British press that the presidential visit will be a visit by an invisible visitor because they're keeping him so far away from the public. For instance, he won't be doing any speech to parliament. That's, perhaps, more about public relations and security. There's concern that he may be heckled in the parliament because so many M.P.s oppose the war, even in Prime Minister Blair's party.
So he's not doing that. Instead, in half an hour, as you mentioned, there will be that formal speech at the banqueting hall in which he will discuss American foreign policy.
Now, it is American foreign policy, or, rather, Bush administration foreign policy, that is causing a great deal of unease and discomfort here in Britain. Britain, the staunchest ally. Prime Minister Blair standing close to President Bush throughout the Iraq war, providing not just political cover, but also troops to fight and now occupy Iraq. The people here are wondering whether they're going to get anything back out of this visit -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Christiane Amanpour reporting for us from London this morning.
Christiane, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
