President Bush Meets with Prime Minister Blair at Camp David
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: At this hour, the new American president is trying to build his own friendship with a seasoned pro, the prime minister of Britain. The setting for this first-ever summit between George W. Bush and Tony Blair, the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, the site of numerous historic meetings. Both sides say they hope the meeting will deepen the allies' special relationship. With a military honor guard standing at attention, Mr. Bush welcomed his guest to the mountain retreat after Mr. Blair's short helicopter ride from Washington. The meeting is President Bush's first with a European leader. Joining us now to tell us what we can expect from this summit, White House correspondent Major Garrett. Major? Not really a summit, just a bilateral meeting, right? .</s>MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Not a summit, more a meet-and-greet session for two very important leaders of a very important relationship, one that helps define all the U.S. policies and British policies throughout Europe and many parts of the world. And we have an early read on how things are going, Stephen. Just a few moments ago, reporters shouted some questions to the U.S. president and the British prime minister. Mr. Bush telling reporters that the meeting with Mr. Blair was going well. For his part, Mr. Blair said the meeting was going excellent, which is exactly the kind of appraisal British and U.S. officials hoped to have. The agenda of this meeting is really three-part, and they're all interrelated to a certain degree. Obviously, the issue of Iraq; the British and the United States joining forces last week to deal with Iraqi radar sites near the capital of Baghdad, shooting at them, sending missiles in their direction, a joint U.S.-British activity that, both governments say, has helped degrade some of Iraq's ability to track those coalition fighters. Also, the issue of nuclear proliferation. Clearly, an issue that both countries are alarmed about, and not only in Iraq, but other parts of the world, and that relates to the issue of missile defense. United States has made it clear to both the British and European allies and the Russians that it will develop and deploy a missile defense system. Several months ago, that was a bone of tremendous controversy between our nation and those countries, but it's become less so in recent days and recent weeks, as the Europeans and the Russians have said they're more interested in the idea, understanding quite clearly that the United States is going to deploy that system and move on as it sees fit -- Stephen.</s>FRAZIER: Major Garrett, thank you, coming from the White House today.