This of course did not transpire, when on Saturday 10, the people of Belfast witnessed rioting, involving gun and grenade attacks, that went on until the following Tuesday. During this time, more than sixty police officers and several dozens of civilians were wounded. The trouble began when the British authorities refused to allow a Protestant march to walk along the edge of west Belfast, a Catholic area.
There are still deep divisions among the people of Northern Ireland, but where did it all begin?
During the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1549) Catholic Ireland was brought under the rule of Protestant England and so began the tensions that have existed to this day. Some fifty years later, with James I (1603-1625) perched on the throne, a Protestant majority was created in the north of the country, which still exists today.
Another fifty or so years later, Catholic James II (1685-1688) was to only briefly sport the shiny hat before being defeated at the Battle of the Boyne by Protestant William of Orange (1689-1702) and the Protestants again took control.
In 1920, The Government of Ireland Act decided to split the country in two due to the religious divisions, creating a predominantly Catholic south and a predominantly Protestant north.
In 1949, the south cut all ties with Britain and became the Republic of Ireland. The six counties that make up Northern Ireland - Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone - remained part of the United Kingdom. Unsurprisingly, not everyone was happy with this political and religious division, with the minority Catholic population in the north preferring to be part of a united Ireland, while the Protestants are staunchly determined to stay part of the UK.
This eventually led to the forming of paramilitary groups on both sides of the sectarian divide.
The period known as The Troubles refers to the last thirty-five years or so, beginning with the Civil Rights marches of the late 1960s up until 1998's Good Friday Agreement, which created a 108-member Assembly and 14-member executive body which represented both Catholics and Protestants.
Three months after the signing of the agreement, the worst single atrocity of The Troubles took place with the Omagh bombing which claimed the lives of 29 people.
With the IRA now deciding to lay down their arms and choose dialogue over bombs and bullets there is much more hope for the future of Northern Ireland, but these ceasefires are always uneasy.
Following the rioting in Belfast this September, which left police vehicles riddled with bullet-holes, the British Governer, Peter Hain has said that the outlawed Protestant group, 'The Ulster Volunteer Force' had effectively broken its ceasefire and that Britain no longer accepted it as valid.
So the undoing of centuries of animosity is not going to happen overnight, when not all paramilitary groups have laid down their weapons, murders and punishment beatings are still commonplace and there is a frightening rate of suicide by victimized teenagers. Since 1966 more than 3,500 people have been killed and over 36,000 injured.
When Mr Bush and Mr Blair have finished sorting out the sectarian violence, power-sharing issues and religious mistrust between the Sunnis and the Shias 2,500 miles away in Iraq, perhaps they could tidy things up here too?
