Bush heads to Europe for a drawn-out goodbye

US President George W. Bush is Europe-bound for a final farewell tour ahead of leaving office. Before setting off he outlined his hopes for the trip. “I am looking forward to meeting all our friends and allies. We’ve got strong relations in Europe and this trip will hopefully solidify those relations, and we’ve got a lot to talk about,” said Bush.

One of the main topics of conversation with European leaders is sure to be the allied effort in Afghanistan. First Lady, Laura Bush, has just visited the country. She arrived in Slovenia from Kabul to join her husband for tomorrow’s US-EU summit.

Security around the venue is already extremely tight. Anti-war and anti-Bush demonstrations have become a common occurrence around any visit to Europe by the US leader, and the Slovenian authorities are taking no chances.

The US president will go on to Germany, France, the UK and Italy, where the government has apparently already cleared space in a prison in Rome in anticipation of protests.

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