Kennedy to tell Bush that US cannot walk away from Iraq chaos
IRNA
London, Nov. 17, IRNA -- Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy Monday called for massive anti-war protests to greet President George W Bush on his trip to Britain. "I think we should use the opportunity to leave the president in no doubt as to the extent of public concern, not just in our own country, but in Europe generally about the way in which events, tragically, have unfolded (in Iraq)," he said. Kennedy, the only leader of Britain`s main parties to oppose the US-led war against Iraq, said that he would leave Bush in "no doubt" about public concerns over Iraq when he meets the US president during his visit on Wednesday. There was "no way" Britain and the US can walk away and leave a chaotic situation in Iraq, he said. It was "not credible" for the US to pull part of its force out by next summer during Bush`s re- election campaign, he told BBC radio. The Stop the War Coalition has estimated that more than 100,000 people could attend a planned mass demonstration in London against Bush`s visit on Thursday. Peace campaigners were starting a series of protests against the three-day visit by handing in a petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday. A poll on Sunday showed that more than half the British public supported the planned demonstrations. Over a third of Britons described Bush as "stupid" and "incoherent," while 60 per cent said he was a threat to world peace. During his talks with the US president, Kennedy said he would also be using the opportunity to raise the case over the continued detention of over 600 Muslim prisoners without charge or trial at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He said it was the duty of responsible British politicians to raise civil liberty concerns, without being blinded to anxieties about the "oppression that terrorism represents." HC/212 End
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