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There probably won't be obscenities hurled at the motorcade, but, true to form, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson plans to stage a rally Friday to protest former President George W. Bush.
The "Rally for Accountability" is scheduled for noon at Pioneer Park, just before Bush will be at the Sandy Costco promoting his memoir, Decision Points.
Anderson, who now is executive director of the nonprofit High Road for Human Rights, insists Bush should be held to account for authorizing the use of torture, which is referenced in the book.
"This is not about partisan politics but rather about the principled restoration of the rule of law and accountability for war crimes and other felonies committed by former President Bush and others in his administration," Anderson says in a news release.
The former two-term mayor will be joined at the rally by David Irvine, a former Republican Utah legislator and retired Army brigadier general, who taught interrogation techniques.
During his time in office, Anderson organized or attended multiple anti-Bush rallies in Utah, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere focused on the Iraq war and use of torture. He also testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on abuses of executive power.
But now, he has a second target: Democratic President Barack Obama.
Anderson is expected to criticize Obama at the rally, maintaining the current administration also has violated the Convention Against Torture treaty by failing to prosecute those responsible for torture.
"Until the Bush admin-istration, our nation's proud tradition since George Washington was that we have absolutely prohibited torture," Anderson says. "Now it seems that our past two presidents, Congress and most of the American public are content with betraying that heritage, stooping to the moral and legal level of barbaric tyrannies from whom the U.S. used to proudly distinguish itself."
Pioneer Park is at 400 South and 300 West.
Signing and rally
Former President George W. Bush will sign copies of his new book Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. at Costco in Sandy, 11100 S. Auto Mall Drive. An anti-Bush rally is set for Friday at noon at Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park, 400 South and 300 West.