csua.org/u/blv -> story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=2357&e=4&u=/ap/20050406/ap_on_go_pr_wh/pope_bush
The American party took its place at a wooden railing on one side of John Paul's bier, as hundreds of mourners filed by on the other side. The li ne was briefly stopped on the side of the US visitors. They knelt for about five minutes, heads bowed, as choral music filled th e huge structure. "The man knows how to build a crowd," Clinton told reporters earlier aboa rd Air Force One, expressing deep respect for the pope's political abili ties as he traveled around the world. Said the first President Bush, the current president's father: "He was a man of peace, he was unforgettable."
Ir aq and Clinton with him over social issues such as abortion rights. George W Bush is the first sitting American president to attend papal bu rial rites. He was to have meetings Thursday with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, including a priv ate dinner with Berlusconi. Relations between the United States and Italy were strained last month wh en US troops in Iraq fired on a car rushing an Italian journalist to f reedom, killing the Italian intelligence officer who helped negotiate he r release and wounding the reporter. Berlusconi denounced the attack and announced plans to start to draw down his country's 3,000-strong contingent in Iraq in September. Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed the pope's remains since Mond ay. The former President Bush told reporters traveling with the delegation ab oard Air Force One that he met the pope when he was vice president, brin ging his son, Jeb, a converted Catholic, along for the visit.
Gulf War, with the pope sending him a cable opposing the invasion of Kuwait, the elder Bush said he wished he had had time to discuss with the pope the n otion of a "just war," which the pope had supported. He said he guessed the pope would have told him the opposite.
"I think he favored defensive wars, if you will, or wars in defense of in nocent people being slaughtered," Clinton said. "I think that he thought you shouldn't initiate wars, even against oppressive leaders, unless th ere was some immediate human tragedy pending." He played a role in hastening the end of co mmunism in central Europe. And he was a consistent voice for human digni ty in the face of political oppression and modern materialism," Clinton said. But on balance, he was a man of God, he was a consistent person, he did what he thought was right. Clinton said there had been "two great popes" in his lifetime, John Paul II and John XXIII, who died in 1963. Former Presidents Carter and Ford were not among the delegation. Carter had considered coming but declined, according to aides to both Bush and Carter.
The informati on contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewr itten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associ ated Press.
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