British Prime Minister Tony Blair today stood by the decision to invite US President George W. Bush to London despite mounting opposition from anti-war campaigners.
Mr Blair said at the CBI annual conference in Birmingham that Britain was right to stand firm by the United States and insisted troops had not died in vain in Iraq.
Mr Blair told the CBI now was the right time for President Bush to come to the country. "If we assess what has happened yesterday in Turkey, again many innocent people murdered, many more injured, and put that together with what happened in Saudi Arabia and in the bombing of the UN and Red Cross, this is the right moment for us to stand firm with the United States in defeating terrorism wherever it is and delivering us safely from what I genuinely believe to be the security threat of the 21st century.
"I hope people understand that nobody ever takes a decision to go to war lightly," he said. "If you look at what is happening now in Iraq, where British soldiers and American soldiers are trying to make the place better, where people are being killed - not just soldiers but also Iraqi civilians and Italians - and the recent bombs in Turkey and the outrages in Saudi Arabia, in Kenya and Indonesia . . . this is a worldwide struggle against fanatical and extremist groups."
Anti-war campaigners say they expect around 100,000 to turn out to protest during Mr Bush's visit.
Downing Street today disclosed the first public details of President Bush's visit - including meetings with the families of British victims of September 11th and Britons who have fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. He will be protected by a massive security operation during his visit amid heightened fears of a terrorist attack.
On the insistence of the White House traditional events accorded to visiting heads of state, such as a horse-drawn carriage ride with the queen, will not be included in the programme.
Police snipers will line the president's route on rooftops and all the capital's rapid response armed units are on full alert ahead of tomorrow's arrival. Police have cancelled all leave and are putting 5,000 officers on duty in the capital's biggest security operation.
President Bush is staying at Buckingham Palace and demonstrators are determined to make their mark on a man who concedes he travels in a "bubble".
"I think the main thing for us is to get as many people on the streets as possible," said protester Mr Guy Taylor from the "Globalised Resistance" group.
"We want to stop London, we want to make things unignorable, we want George Bush to feel our presence, and that means making it difficult for his cavalcade to get round London, making it difficult for him to feel like a free man here."