Blair stands by Bush visit as protesters plan to take to the streets

ON the eve of George W Bush’s state visit, British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday said he stood by the decision to invite the US President to Britain, despite mounting opposition from anti-war campaigners.

Mr Blair said Britain was right to "stand firm" beside the United States in the fight against terrorism and insisted troops had not died in vain in Iraq.

His comments came as Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy gave his backing to planned protests, which are expected to bring up to 100,000 people onto the streets of London on Thursday.

As the official details of Mr Bush's itinerary were released, the Metropolitan Police said it remained concerned about the possibility of disorder among a minority of marchers.

And schoolchildren were warned that they face discipline possibly including suspensions if they play truant to join the protests.

Mr Blair said terrorist outrages in Turkey and Saudi Arabia and the bombing of United Nations and Red Cross buildings in Iraq made this week's visit all the more appropriate.

"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," he said.

Mr Blair said he had not taken the decision to go to war in Iraq lightly.

But recent attacks proved that Britain and the US were involved in "a worldwide struggle against fanatical and extremist groups".

Mr Bush will be privately greeted by the Prince of Wales on his arrival this evening and will be the guest of the Queen at a banquet at Buckingham Palace tomorrow.

On Thursday, the president will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior before talks with Mr Blair at 10 Downing Street. The final day of his visit on Friday will be spent in Mr Blair's constituency of Sedgefield. County Durham.

During the visit, he will meet relatives of British victims of September 11 as well as servicemen who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Downing Street said it was intended he would also talk to the families of troops killed in Iraq. He has said he will explain to them that their loved ones died for a noble cause.

But Reg Keys, father of Lance Corporal Thomas Keys, who died in Iraq, said the US president was just using "propaganda words".

"In my opinion soldiers in the First World War and the Second World War died for a noble cause because they were trying to repel a country that was invading our shores," he told GMTV.

"What threat was Iraq to us? We were all led to believe that (Saddam Hussein) possessed weapons of mass destruction that were about to be unleashed on us, but it hasn't materialised. I feel deceived."

Anti-war campaigners say they expect around 100,000 to turn out to protest at various events during Mr Bush's visit.

Mr Kennedy said they should be given the opportunity to make their views known. He would be raising concerns over the war and the fate of British nationals held at Guantanamo Bay with Mr Bush personally tomorrow, he said.

"Many people will wish to protest about these issues when the President is here. There is absolutely no justification for violence in these protests, but peaceful demonstration is a democratic right in our country and must be allowed," he added.