Bush continues vacation with church, golf; Mulroney arriving today

KENNEBUNKPORT — President Bush spent a sun-drenched Sunday with family members, attending church services and playing tennis and golf, while aides updated him on developments in the Persian Gulf.

The president, in the third week of a vacation at his seaside family home, received a briefing from his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, early in the morning before heading off to church.

He attended an annual breakfast for the vestrymen of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church. Bush is an elder in the church and when he is in town he generally attends St. Ann’s, which is just up the road from his home on Walker’s Point.

Bush was joined by his wife, Barbara; mother, Dorothy Walker Bush; son, Jeb; and assorted grandchildren for services at St. Ann’s later in the morning.

Bush waved off reporters’ attempts to question him about developments in the Persian Gulf. He returned to Walker’s Point for some tennis before an afternoon golf game.

Bush left the policy comments to Scowcroft, who gave an ABC-TV interview and also took questions from a handful of reporters.

Bush’s recreation-filled Sunday launched a week in which he planned to devote energies to the Middle East, including a congressional briefing Tuesday in Washington.

Bush planned to consult Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who was bringing his family to Walker’s Point for an overnight stay. Canada is among the 22 nations providing forces to the multinational effort in the Persian Gulf.

After Mulroney’s departure, Bush was to fly to Washington to fill in key members of Congress on his Persian Gulf strategy.

While administration officials say they have been in frequent contact with members of Congress since Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, this would be the first time Bush has held such a face-to-face session with lawmakers on the gulf crisis.

Bush’s press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, said several members of Congress had requested the briefing, even though Congress still is in recess.

Fitzwater told reporters that Mulroney “has many contacts in the Arab world, and discussions he would also like to explore.”

Mulroney, a frequent confidant of Bush, and his family also visited the Bushes in Kennebunkport last summer.