Bush Plans News Conference This Morning



Aug 9 09:46 AM US/Eastern
By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer



WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, clearing the decks before his August vacation, called a news conference for Thursday.

The president was expected to face questions about the war in Iraq, now in its fifth year, political unrest in nuclear-armed Pakistan, an ally in the war on terrorism, and the deteriorating state of bridges in the United States, dramatized by last week's collapse of the span over the Mississippi River at Minneapolis.

The midmorning session was Bush's first full news conference since July 12 when he inaugurated the newly refurbished White House briefing room. Since then, he has had brief question-and-answer sessions with Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, and Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai.

With Congress already out of town, Bush was to leave Washington at midday for a three-night stay at his father's oceanfront compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. On Saturday, Bush will meet in Kennebunkport with France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is vacationing at an estate on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., about 50 miles away.

The president is to return to the White House on Sunday and then head out the next day for his Texas ranch.

Bush is not expected to return to Washington until near the end of the month, although he is scheduled to make some outings from his ranch. He is to meet with the leaders of Mexico and Canada Aug. 20-21 in Ottawa.








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