Jun 16, 2008 5:50 am US/Central
British PM Backs Bush On Afghanistan, Iran
LONDON (CBS) ―
President Bush has won much-needed support from his British counterpart in the two key theaters of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, and in his push for tougher measures to reign in Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Standing next to Mr. Bush after a two-hour meeting at No. 10 Downing Street in London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his military chief would announce later in the day "a reconfiguration of our troops" in Afghanistan, that would result in "the highest number" of British soldiers there to date.
On Iran, Brown said Britain would freeze all assets of Iran's largest bank in a further move to discourage the country from developing nuclear weapons.
Brown said at the joint news conference that Britain would also urge Europe to impose further sanctions. The prime minister said Britain will take any necessary action to impress on Iran that it needs to abandon any ambitions of developing nuclear weapons.
The British leader also said his country had work to do in Iraq, and vowed to "continue the job," but, "not at the cost of more troops to Afghanistan".
The news conference by President Bush and Brown - both highly unpopular with their respective constituencies - came after a longer-than-scheduled closed door meeting at which Afghanistan and Iran were expected to be the key issues.
The EU and other nations are seeking new ways of persuading Iran to shut down its uranium enrichment program, which they suspect will be used to make nuclear weapons. Three sets of U.N. sanctions have failed to bring any change and Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian use only.
Both leaders on Monday vowed to "further isolate" Iran if it rejected the latest package of incentives offered by the U.S. and its allies.
Even before EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented Iran with a modified package of incentives Saturday to suspend its uranium enrichment program, a spokesman for Iran's government said his country would reject it.
Iran said it would turn down any offer that Solana presented - on behalf of the U.S., Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China - if it required Iran to stop the sensitive nuclear work.
Brown said Monday it was clear that if Iran continues to ignore the international community's demands to halt enrichment, it would leave "no choice but to intensify sanctions."
Mr. Bush took the Iranian leadership to task over its insistence that it needed to move ahead with its uranium program to produce enough energy for its population. He reiterated his backing for a Russian proposal that would see uranium enriched outside Iranian territory for use in energy production in Iran.
In an apparent return of favor for the support on lent to his administration, Mr. Bush voiced strong support for the British leader's campaign to end the tyrannical rule of Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.
Mr. Bush backed Brown's call for Mugabe to allow a United Nations envoy and international observers into the African nation to oversee an upcoming runoff vote. Opposition candidates have been jailed and their supporters threatened in the run up to the election, leading aid groups to voice serious concerns over the likelihood of a free and fair election.
Mr. Bush, capping his European trip in London and Belfast, will return home having further smoothed trans-Atlantic ties frayed over the war, but with only seven months left to advance his goals in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The president and Brown said they also discussed issues ranging from climate change, international food prices, global trade negotiations, and the Mideast peace process and the crisis in Darfur.
Brown did not give any specific details on his government's plans for troop levels in Iraq during the news conference, but Mr. Bush repeatedly praised his leadership in the conflict.
The president dismissed questions about the widely reported gap between the British and American governments' stance on troop levels, saying "there's no surprises" from his most crucial ally in the war.
"I have no problem with how Gordon Brown is dealing with Iraq," Mr. Bush said. Britain has 4,000 troops remaining in Iraq on the outskirts of Basra.
British forces withdrew from their base in Basra's city center last year and began to focus only on training Iraqi security forces. British troops, however, did aid Iraqi and U.S. forces in late March during their crackdown on Shiite militiamen in largely successful sweeps to curb violence in the oil-rich city.
Mr. Bush also met during his short stay in London with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the U.N. envoy to Middle East peace negotiations, and Britain's conservative opposition leader, David Cameron.
The last stop on Mr. Bush's trip is Belfast where he, as well as Brown, will visit with Northern Ireland officials. Hadley said the president will urge Britain to transfer police and justice responsibilities to the Northern Ireland authorities.
The president also is visiting an elementary school for Catholic and Protestant students.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
