ASK PASQUINO.(The Talk of the Town)(as they think back to the liberation of Rome from Nazi occupation, some Romans take a dim view of George W. Bush and Silvio Berlusconi)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 07-JUN-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

President Bush arrives in Rome this Friday to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the caput mundi from Nazi occupation. The day promises a collision of two notions of America: the America that rolled into Rome from the south on the evening of Sunday, June 4, 1944, as the German Army retreated northward; and the America that will fly in on Air Force One for a protest-filled one-day visit. In order for the latter America to celebrate the former America safely, overwhelming security will be required; the city is bracing for una giornata blindata, an armored day--a rather unfortunate way to celebrate liberation. Many Italians don't want Bush to attend the celebration at all, preferring to enjoy their pro-American feelings without...

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