London (APE) Prior to departing aboard Air Force One for home from the G-8, President Bush made a surprise visit to London to pay his respects in the ongoing efforts after the bombings there. As the death toll rose, the president sought to visit firefighters, policemen, and victim’s families in the aftermath. “We have experience in these matters,” the President said, “And if I can be of any advantage to my friend, Tony Blair, then by God, I will do so.”
The cost of security for the President’s visit came into question as well as it’s disruption of needed emergency service routes. “We resent the fact that certain people, enemies of freedom and democracy, see the need to politicize these traumatic events” stated White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “We can only imagine what it might be like for us if this were to happen, just like 9/11, here in America again… the fear and the anxiety are just… phenomenal.”
