[...] here in the US, the man travels constantly, and while there are extra precautions taken wherever he goes, it is nothing as you have described. Are you certain that your sources are absolutely correct?
Here in the US, 51% of the population *elected* the pestilence; he ought to be at least 50% safe... In UK, he may be Blair's "best buddy", but Blair's not altogether popular at the moment (largely because of the grey areas on the Iraq issue), so that's no "visa" to popular acclaim. Even in the US, things are apt to be a touch "iffy" when he visits a big city (vide Devon's description), and none too peaceful in *small* towns (vvide Joy's report)...
There's also the matter of the past assasination attempts at US presidents; the Kennedy one was successful, but there had been others -- the Brady Bill attempt (to limit the posession of guns) is a direct result of a *failed* one. How many have been foiled and covered up, nobody knows; it's not considered "wise" to scare the populace (and possibly, suggest that this or that president is less than popular <g>)
The bigger the city, the bigger the risk. The more unpopular the "visitor", the tighter the security is likely to be. The bigger/more important the country, the more likely its head will be unpopular, both at home and abroad. You do the math :)
I remember a presidential *daughter*'s (Carter?) visit to Lexington -- someone invited her, as a date, to a W&L ball... The place *crawled* with Security; she and her date were about the only ones on the dance floor, and we all stayed home for 2 days just to avoid contact :) I also remember a visit from a Russian leader (Gorbachev?) to NYC -- he gave all the security a *fit*, because he left the car, and started "glad-handing" up and down the street.
And all of this happened *long* before the "2 towers", much less before Iraq... Look at today's papers, and the news from Turkey -- Bush wasn't even anywhere in sight... The US security want to protect *Bush*; the UK security is wise to comply, if only to protect the *Brit* public --better safe than sorry.
If the measures you describe were really required, then I'm sure that Bush would simply be advised to stay home.
And when was the last time Bush (the current version) has *listened* to advice? This is one wild cowboy...
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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