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Bush's Sydney Visit Has Tight Schedule, Tighter Security

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The Washington Post

Published: September 3, 2007

WASHINGTON - President Bush leaves today for Australia, where he will spend the week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Bush will meet with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and the two are expected to discuss Iraq and Afghanistan, where at least 2,500 Australian troops are serving. Later in the week, Bush will meet with Kevin Rudd, the leader of the opposition Australian Labor Party, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Bush also has a lunch planned with the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and will deliver a speech Friday at the Sydney Opera House.

This is Bush's second trip to Australia as president, but is, as the White House noted last week, 'the first time that he will have the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of Sydney-siders.'

But how hospitable will they be? The president's tightly packed schedule also might include protests, large planned events surrounding his speech and smaller grumblings of a city inconvenienced by the presence of so many foreign leaders and their security needs.

In an interview last week with David Speers of Australia's Sky News, Bush was asked whether he had 'any message' for the Sydney residents complaining about how his visit would affect the city.

'I'm looking forward to coming to the beautiful city, and to the extent that I inconvenience them, I apologize,' Bush said. He said he hadn't heard about the city's security lockdown - described as the highest level of security for an event in Australia, costing more than $170 million and including road closings, a restricted air zone, and a fence around the convention center where the event is being held.

'If I inconvenience people, that's not my intent,' Bush said. 'My intent is to represent my country in an important meeting in a country that I admire a lot and a country with whom we've got great relations.'

Perhaps the added security will be enough to deter a repeat of the violent protests that took place during Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Australia in February. A crowd of about 200 tried to break through a police line, and several people were arrested.

Most of the anger stemmed from the war in Iraq and the detention of Australian David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay.

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