Panday: Manning should talk crime with Bush

CRIME AND TERRORISM should have been the principal items discussed between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and United States President George W Bush in Washington DC. This was the opinion expressed yesterday by former prime minister Basdeo Panday. Manning and Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift met with Bush and US National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice at the White House on Monday to discuss several issues of critical importance to both nations. Asked yesterday what he would have done were he in Manning’s shoes, Panday said the Prime Minister should have raised issues such as crime in TT and regional efforts to curb  terrorism and the illegal drug and arms trades. “We (the former UNC government) were talking to the United States about that,” Panday recalled. Questioned whether he believed that Manning would have been forceful when discussing crime and security issues with the American President, the Opposition Leader replied: “We will have to wait and see what he (Manning) says.”

Prior to Manning’s departure for Washington DC on Monday, newspaper reports claimed that he was unlikely to meet with Rice or US Secretary of State Colin Powell because the two nations were poles apart on the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Prime Minister said he did not believe that the two nations’ respective positions on the ICC would impact negatively on his talks with top US Government officials this week. Former President Arthur NR Robinson was a principal architect of the ICC while the Bush Administration is concerned that the Court’s rulings could be biased against American military personnel currently serving overseas in peacekeeping missions.  On Tuesday, Robinson said former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (captured by US forces on Sunday) should be tried before the ICC. Among the issues discussed between Manning and Bush were energy security, regional security and the political situation in Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba. The Prime Minister was scheduled to hold further discussions with other US Government officials but may not meet with Powell who is currently recovering from surgery for prostate cancer. Manning will address an LNG conference in Washington today, attend the University of Miami graduation ceremony tomorrow and meet with Florida Governor Jeb Bush on Friday. The Prime Minister returns home on Saturday.