Sharing Heartache on AF1
WASHINGTON - With an in-flight airing of somber meditative music and an offering of his favorite snack, President Bush brought Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi south Friday to visit the graves of US military personnel who were recently slain in Iraq.
Courtesy of the families, photo albums of the deceased were available aboard Air Force One, and White House press secretary Tony Snow sported a dignified suit for the flight to Memphis.
The Bush-Koizumi tour of the cemetery wrapped up two days of consultations. His visit saw military pomp, the tinkling of crystal at a black-tie dinner and two hours of discussions on Iraq, North Korea, U.S. beef exports and other weighty matters in the Oval Office.
But their outing to the graves of some of the most recently killed US GI's, was perhaps the most difficult portion.
A Departure for the President
Introspection and a willingness to let his guard down aren't Bush's usual style. And this is a president who routinely skips all funerals - even for his own family members.
So it's a sign of his fondness for the Japanese leader that Bush took Koizumi to the graves, and by plane, no less, five years to the day after they first met. Aides said the president decided to include Koizumi in such an intimate setting, so as to bid adieu to a leader who is departing office in September after being one of his most ardent defenders on the world stage.
Bush revealed his excitement about the US military's announced withdrawal from Iraq, as he drew the formal dinner he threw for Koizumi at the White House to a close at 10:10 p.m. Thursday night. "Way past time to go," the president said.
Things got somber right off as the leaders flew to Memphis Friday morning on Air Force One.
The public address system played meditative music that was appopriate for the solemn occasion, and they were served light snacks. The two leaders passed on the sandwiches. Bush drank coffee and Koizumi drank green tea.
"I'm feeling a little heavy," groaned White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, one of the few presidential aides who has attended the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. "I so did not want to see another of our boys killed."
Snow did his best to keep things upbeat, saying that Bush and Koizumi were likely to discuss their shared happiness in their disengagement from Iraq. In fact, a spokesman said the "meditation garden" near the first cemetery they would visit was the chosen place for the two allies to have some "private time."
All in an alternate universe, I'm sad to say:
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