Peace activists are planning today to protest George W. Bush's visit here to speak and accept an award for his pro-life efforts at a Catholic summit.

It is "outrageous that he's receiving a pro-life award," said Sharon Tipton, an organizer of the protest with a group called the Orange County Peace Coalition, which she described as an umbrella group for other local peace organizations.

"It's an Orwellian irony because Bush has caused so many deaths with an illegal war," she said.

Legatus, a Catholic organization for business and civic leaders, is holding its annual summit today through Saturday at the St. Regis resort, where Bush is expected to be honored.

Registration is $1,475 per person for the event, open only to members and guests.

John Hunt, executive director of the Ave Maria, Fla.-based organization, has confirmed that the former president will attend. No other details have been made public.

Hunt, who could not be reached for comment by e-mail or telephone about the planned protest, has previously declined to specify when during the three-day event Bush will be present.

"His appearance is going to be a private appearance on behalf of our organization," said Hunt in a telephone interview last month. "He will be delivering remarks for us and all of that will be a private presentation."

Without giving specifics because of security reasons, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said it is working with the Secret Service to provide security for Bush's visit for an event on Friday.

Many dignitaries have stayed at the St. Regis in the past and the department is comfortable with its security plans, said Jim Amormino.

The sheriff's department will have security responsibilities for the outside area of the hotel and is coordinating efforts with the Secret Service, he said.

"We do have a security plan that we feel very comfortable with," Amormino said. "While I can't be specific, the event is planned for Friday."

Protest organizers say they expect about 50 people for a 5-8 p.m. Thursday protest near the St. Regis and have their own theory about why the specifics of the Bush visit are secret.

"They're afraid of protesters," Tipton said, "because he's very controversial."

Organizers also plan to hold a news conference at noon and say some protesters will wear orange jumpsuits to identify with prisoners in the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and other prison sites in the world.

President Barack Obama has moved to ban torture and controversial interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, but scant information has been released on U.S. or British involvement in sending terror suspects to foreign countries for interrogations, a process known as extraordinary rendition.

Bush always denied the U.S. tortured anyone. The U.S. has acknowledged that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described plotter of Sept. 11, and a few other prisoners were waterboarded at secret CIA prisons before being taken to Guantanamo, but the Bush administration insisted that all interrogations were lawful.

Hyman Davidson, a World War II veteran, said he met Bush in 2005 when the then-president marked the 60th anniversary of the May 1945 signing of the Berlin armistice that ended the war in Europe in a solemn remembrance at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, where 8,301 U.S. veterans are buried.

"I always thought that he and his father were great people," said Davidson of Newport Beach, who served in the infantry and spent 195 consecutive days on the front lines in Europe. "(I believe) with my very soul and heart (that) when we go to war and whoever the hell sends us there, they do it in their best judgments.

"They had idiots who said that World War II shouldn't have been fought," said Davidson, who met Bush at Europe's third-largest cemetery for American veterans in Margraten. "We have to fight to maintain what we got and that's called peace .... I am not saying that all of this is the perfect way to go (but) Bush did what he thought was right and it ultimately turned out to be right."

The Catholic News Agency has reported that the former president will receive an award from the lay group Legatus for his work in advancing the pro-life cause and will address the business group for the first time since leaving office more than a year ago. He previously spoke at the organization's first annual pro-life conference in Washington, D.C, in early 2001, shortly after taking office as the nation's 43rd president.