George Bush wants to leave legacy of peace

By Tom Baldwin and Gerard Baker

(June 12):US President George W. Bush has admitted his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe he was a "guy really anxious for war" in Iraq and said yesterday his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran.

In an exclusive interview on Air Force One, he expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the US war in Iraq, and said he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood.

"I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric."

Phrases such as "bring them on" or "dead or alive", he said, might have "indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace". Bush said he found it very painful "to put youngsters in harm's way".

He added: "I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure those lives were not lost in vain."

The unilateralism that marked the first Bush term in the White House has been replaced by a push for tough multilateralism.

He said his focus for his final six months in office was to secure agreement on issues such as establishing a Palestinian state and to "leave behind a series of structures that makes it easier for the next president".

Bush is concerned that Democratic nominee Barack Obama might open cracks in the West's front towards Iran's nuclear program. At the EU-US summit in Slovenia yesterday, he pressed for tougher sanctions against Iran unless it agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment program verifiably.

"They can either face isolation, or they can have better relations with all of us." Bush and his European counterparts announced in a communique they were prepared to go beyond UN sanctions to pressure Iran not to develop nuclear weapons.

The US and European countries have worked to increase the pressure on Iran, often facing resistance at the UN from Russia and China. "Now is the time for there to be strong diplomacy," Bush said. "They can either face isolation, or they can have better relations with all of us. We'll find new sanctions if need be."

A statement from the US and the 27-nation European Union said that Iran must undertake a "full and verifiable" suspension of its uranium enrichment program, and must disclose any previous weapons-related work tothe International Atomic Energy Agency.

Bush predicted that when his successor arrived in the White House and assessed "what will work or what won't work in dealing with Iran", he would stick with the current US policy.

A hardline Israeli minister, Shaul Mofaz, has suggested that a Western military strike on Iran is "unavoidable".

But Bush said: "We ought to work together, keep focused. His comments really should be viewed as the need to continue to keep pressuring Iran." The President was keen to bind his successor into a continued military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, but offered only cautious optimism about a recent decline in violence in Iraq.

Leaving Slovenia, Bush swept into Germany, looking to prod Chancellor Angela Merkel in whirlwind talks overnight to further cut back Berlin's lucrative ties with Tehran over its suspected nuclear drive.

White House aides said Bush would ask Ms Merkel for more help with Afghanistan and to tighten the sanctions on Iran over its defiance of international demands to freeze sensitive nuclear work that could be a prelude to an atomic weapon.

German officials said the Chancellor would put climate change front and centre as they meet at Meseberg Palace, an 18th-century Baroque abode turned sumptuous government guest house.

The US leader and the conservative Chancellor have enjoyed much warmer ties than Bush had with her predecessor, the Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder, after they fell out over the US invasion of Iraq.

The US President is on his last trip to Europe, a June 9-16 swing that was to take him on to Italy, the Vatican, France and Britain, after his stops in Slovenia and Germany. Asked about corruption allegations dogging Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Mr Bush insisted: "I have found him to be an honest man."

He offered words of encouragement for another ally, Britain's Gordon Brown, whom he will meet on Sunday. He said Mr Brown needed no advice on coping with political adversity.

He is "plenty confident and plenty smart, plenty capable - he can sort it out". But Bush delivered a thinly veiled warning to Senator Obama that his promises to renegotiate or block international trade deals were already causing alarm in Europe and beyond.

"There is concern about protectionism and economic nationalism," he said. "Leaders recognise that now is the time to get ahead of this issue before it becomes ingrained in the political systems of our respective countries."

Acknowledging that his refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol once created consternation in Europe, Bush said there was now a recognition that richer countries needed to "transfer out of the hydrocarbon economy".

However, he insisted that any binding emissions targets would have to include China and India to be workable.

- The Australian