N. Ireland police briefing Bush on security issues

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — The head of Northern Ireland's police force has been keeping US President George W. Bush informed about security, he said in an interview published Saturday.

Hugh Orde, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief constable, told The Guardian newspaper that he was briefing Bush about their work combating terrorism -- and insisted there were lessons to learn for the fight against Al-Qaeda.

Orde said part of the strategy behind the power-sharing deal between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland involved persuading top US politicians that fair and even-handed policing was being carried out.

"The obsession with Northern Ireland -- and particularly policing -- on the east coast of America was something we identified very quickly as...