President Bush was greeted in Rome, Italy, by anti-war activists and hundreds of other demonstrators, who marched through the streets of the Italian capital.


President Bush is in Europe on what has been called a "goodbye tour." He has been meeting with various leaders trying to drum up support for attacks on Iran to dissuade it from further nuclear testing, which Bush insists is for the development of a nuclear bomb.

In other Bush news, President Bush said that he strongly disagreed with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that clears foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay to challenge their detention in American civilian courts.

Bush suggested new legislation may now be needed to keep the American people safe. (Read Patriot Act III.)

"We'll abide by the court's decision," Bush said during a news conference in Rome. "That doesn't mean I have to agree with it."

As a quick point of review, I offer the wording from the 1963 Supreme Court ruling in Gideon Vs. Wainwright, which upheld the 6th amendment to the U.S. constitution. While reading the opinion below, remember that many of the "terrorists" currently being held are U.S. citizens.

"The right of one charged with crime to counsel may not be deemed fundamental and essential to fair trials in some countries, but it is in ours. From the very beginning, our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair trials before impartial tribunals in which every defendant stands equal before the law." --United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, "Gideon vs Wainwright" (1963)