In London, between 100,000 and 200,000 demonstrators took to the streets Thursday to protest President Bush’s state visit. In Trafalgar Square tens of thousands celebrated when an effigy of President Bush was taken down in a manner meant to resemble the pulling down of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad. The BBC reported the demonstration may have been London’s biggest weekday protest ever. The White House played down the size of the opposition. First Lady Laura Bush said, “We actually have not seen that many protests. I don’t think the protests are near as large as everyone was predicting before we got there.”

Bush: Iraq Invasion Needed To Save UN
Meanwhile President Bush told a crowd in London that the invasion of Iraq was in part necessary in order to save the United Nations. Bush said the UN would have suffered the same fate as the League of Nations, if UN resolutions were not backed up by force. In other comments Thursday Bush surprised many at the Pentagon when he acknowledged more U.S. troops may be needed in Iraq. He vowed to do “whatever is necessary to secure” the country.