Veal schnitzel, soccer and war

Posted by Mark Silva at 3:45 pm CDT

VIENNA – My driver's name is Wolfgang.

He has delivered me to my downtown hotel following a high-speed ride with President Bush's motorcade from Vienna Schwechat International Airport, where we landed just after 9 pm Vienna time, seven hours ahead of Chicago and with plenty of light left in the Northern sky. The streets were cleared, with sentries stationed every 50 yards and a helicopter escort overhead. But it wasn't the president's passing motorcade that enthralled people assembled at an outdoor café on a channel of the Danube. It was the soccer game between England and Sweden playing on a big-screen TV.

It's a first-class ride aboard Air Force One, where we ate veal schnitzel for dinner in a culinary acculturation for our arrival in Vienna. That was the second meal of the eight-hour-plus flight in the rear press cabin of the presidential aircraft. We started with good old eggs, sausage and crepes stuffed with hot apple filling, plus yogurt, fruit and walnuts on the side.

We watched some mediocre movies en route – Pocahontas, Harrison Ford – and we caught up on our reading in our reclining leather seats. (And yes, dear reader, we pay for all of these amenities and the travel itself.)

We also had a pleasant visit from Joshua Bolten, the president's chief of staff, who wasn't joining us to talk business but rather chat – and he faced quite a few questions about that very competent garage band of his, The Compassionates, that played so well at the president's congressional picnic last week. Bolten is completely humble about his modest talent.

It's not all fun and games aboard Air Force One. Both Tony Snow, the president's press secretary, and Steve Hadley, the president's national security advisor, came back to the press cabin to answer questions on the record – addressing the news of the day, you know, North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Iran's nuclear ambitions, Iraq's ambitions for peace.

North Korea appears to be "moving toward a launch'' of a test missile, Hadley said, though the evidence on this still is "inconclusive.''

"I'll restate what I've been saying the last few days,'' Snow said. "It is our hope that there is no missile firing." North Korea made a commitment in 1999 that they wouldn't do it, he said, adding: "There are many options available, and we are simply not going to tip our hand as to what the possible response would be."

This is not a matter of dispute between the United States and North Korea, but includes four other nations that have joined the U.S. in seeking a halt to North Korea's nuclear program.-- South Korea, Japan, Russia and China, all involved with North Korea in the so-called 'six party talks."

"There are a lot of actors in this process,'' Hadley said. "A lot of folks are sending messages to the North Koreans... It would be a bad idea."

Noting the North Koreans have done "these kinds of things before..." Hadley said, "they've done these kinds of things to get attention before... What we've tried to convince them is, the kind of attention they will get will not be constructive."

The killing of two American soldiers in Iraq who had been captured there – still unconfirmed by U.S. authorities at the time we spoke – serves as "a reminder that this is a brutal enemy,'' Hadley said. "It's a reminder to all of us of what we're up against."

On the Japanese announcement that it will withdraw troops in Iraq: "What is happening in Iraq is as the Iraqi security forces get trained up... the coalition has been turning over... Increasing portions of the country...

"The mission of the forces there, the Japanese forces there, has been successfully completed. The Japanese now are doing what we'll all be doing over time... As the Iraqis stand up, we can stand down," Hadley said.

"We think this is a positive step," Hadley said of the Japanese move. "We think there is going to be a lot of opportunity for countries to change their missions... I think what you're seeing is a transformation, if you will.

Hadley, in listening to the congressional debate over Iraq, said: "There's been sort of a suggestion out there that somehow there's an open-ended commitment by the United States to Iraq... Of course, the president has talked about stand up, stand down, so our men and women can return with the honor they deserve... I don't know what people mean when they say an open-ended commitment of our forces."

On the talks that the U.S. will hold here in Vienna with leaders of the European Union government, seeking a unified front in the demand that Iran suspend its enrichment of uranium, Hadley suggested that this is a formality really – the leading European nations negotiating with Iran, Germany, France and Great Britain, are all in agreement, he noted. They have joined with Russia and China in offering Iran incentives to bargain.

"We've already got an understanding... That if Iran does not accept this offer, then we return to the Security Council,'' Hadley said. "The framework that we're operating under is already fixed."

Nicolle Wallace, the president's communications director, also came back to the press cabin for a social call, with a lament that we will not rest in Vienna very long – or Budapest either. This is a three-day run for Bush – traveling today, Vienna tomorrow, Budapest on Thursday, and home.