Bush Marks MLK Day With Gospel Performance

By NEDRA PICKLER

WASHINGTON – President Bush celebrated the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday by taking in a gospel performance and viewing the Emancipation Proclamation.

The president peered through a glass case at the original Emancipation Proclamation, which was on display for just four days at the National Archives. Abraham Lincoln signed the document declaring the end of slavery in the midst of the Civil War on Jan. 1, 1863, and it is only occasionally brought out of storage because the poor quality of the paper and ink make it vulnerable to light.

"It seems fitting on Martin Luther King Day that I come and look at the Emancipation Proclamation in its original form," Bush said. "Abraham Lincoln recognized that all men are created equal. Martin Luther King lived on that admonition to call our country to a higher calling, and today we celebrate the life of an American who called Americans to account when we didn’t live up to our ideals."

The president ignored a question about whether Friday’s airstrike on a remote Pakistani village was appropriate. Pakistani officials said at least 17 people were killed the attack, but not the apparent target – Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant. The strike sparked anti-American protests throughout Pakistan.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Jehangir Karamat, on Monday said the incident raises a host of questions.

"This particular strike, which led to civilian deaths, has created a situation where it’s being questioned whether this strike should have been carried out on our side of the border and whether there was enough intelligence, accurate intelligence, to warrant this strike," he said in an interview on Fox New Channel’s "Fox and Friends" show.

After his appearance at the National Archives, Bush went biking at the Secret Service training facility in Beltsville, Md. In the afternoon, he was attending the "Let Freedom Ring" celebration at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Grammy-nominated gospel artist Yolanda Adams was to perform with a choir made up of Georgetown University students and members of the Washington community.

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