His first foreign guests? The Canadian prime minister and then Tony Blair

His first foreign guests? The Canadian prime minister, and then Tony Blair. He has since met the presidents of Colombia and El Salvador; slightly trickier meetings, with the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, for instance, are ahead. The really tricky ones, such as France, Russia and China, can wait.In forging his image, Mr Bush has been assisted by his predecessor. While there were those in the Bush camp who worried that Bill Clinton’s troubles were hampering Mr Bush’s emergence, they were probably a blessing.

They allowed Mr Bush to draw the contrast between himself and Mr Clinton without having to do anything.If the image-building has been an almost unqualified success – Mr Bush’s legitimacy as president is no longer questioned and he has lost what was described as his “deer in the headlights look” – the jury of US public opinion is still out on the matter of presidential substance. His approval rating, at 55 per cent, is 10 points lower than Mr Clinton’s was when he left office. His economic plan has been criticised as “fuzzy”, and no one quite knows whether his repetitive answers to questions reflect a disciplined approach to conveying his message or an inability to think on his feet.Mr Bush’s homage today to Ronald Reagan is an opportunity to inject some ideological content into what has so far been a largely managerial message. Now he has to show that there is more to George W than good organisation and bonhomie.. A plane carrying members of a National Guard engineering crew crashed and burst into flames in a farm field in heavy rain, killing all 21 people on board. A plane carrying members of a National Guard engineering crew crashed and burst into flames in a farm field in heavy rain, killing all 21 people on board.
Three Army personnel and 18 Air National Guard members were aboard the twin-engine C-23 Sherpa that crashed Saturday near Unadilla, about 30 miles south of Macon, said John Birdsong, a spokesman for Robins Air Force Base.A spokeswoman for the Virginia Air National Guard said all 18 of the transport plane’s passengers were members of a Virginia-based military construction and engineering crew on a routine training mission.The plane’s pilot and two other crew members were members of the 171st Aviation Battalion of the Florida Army National Guard, officials said.Identities of the victims were not immediately released.Dennis Posey, a farmer who lives about a half-mile from the field, said he jumped into his pickup and headed to the crash site after hearing a loud thud. The plane exploded only moments after it landed, Posey said.”There was no way” anyone survived, Posey said.

“As soon as I seen that plane, I knew nobody could come out of that.”Officials have not determined the cause of the late morning crash. Heavy rains and winds swept the area throughout Friday night and Saturday as part of a huge storm system moving across the South.The plane took off from Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and was headed to Oceana Naval Air Station, Virginia. No trouble was reported at takeoff, said Air Force Capt Carol Kanode, a field spokeswoman.The National Transportation Safety Board is sending investigators to the scene and the military will convene a board of officers to investigate the accident, Robins spokeswoman Faye Willson said late Saturday.The victims’ remains would not be removed before Sunday, she said.Late Saturday afternoon, families of the 18 Virginia-based victims – all members of the 203rd Red Horse Unit of the National Guard – gathered at Camp Pendleton State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach.”It’s painful,” said Lt Col. Chester Carter, who traveled to Camp Pendleton, home of the 203rd.

“The families are our main focus and concern right now.”Lt Col Ralph Barker said military chaplains and counselors were being brought in to assist the families.President George W Bush said he was deeply saddened at news of the crash.”This tragic loss on a routine training mission reminds us of the sacrifices made each and every day by all of our men and women in uniform,” Bush said in a statement “The price of freedom is never free. Today’s events remind us that it is sometimes unspeakably high.”The C-23 Sherpa aircraft can carry up to 30 passengers and provides troop and equipment transport, airdrop and medical evacuation.. A decade after the liberation of the oil-rich Emirate of Kuwait almost all signs of the Iraqi invasion have been erased. At night, several buildings have been rigged up to twinkle with huge figures, showing the numbers 40 and 10. It is not only the 10th anniversary marking freedom from Kuwait’s belligerent neighbour, but also the 40th birthday of independence from Britain.