Election must be coming
President Bush is looking at his upcoming trips to Europe and an international economic summit in Georgia as opportunities to mend fences with allies over Iraq and to promote the spread of democracy in the Middle East.
``It's important for our partners to understand that I don't view it as American democracy, nor do I think it's going to happen overnight,'' Bush said Tuesday. ``I will remind them that the Articles of Confederation was a rather bumpy period for American democracy,'' he said, referring to America's formative period.
The president is also expected to use the meetings to discuss with fellow Security Council members a new U.N. resolution dealing with post-occupation Iraq.
Bush leaves Thursday on a trip that will take him to Rome and Paris and then to Normandy, France, to participate in ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day. He then joins seven other leaders for the annual Group of Eight summit of industrial democracies, being held this year on Sea Island, Ga.
But the fact that U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi played a major role in the selection process and endorsed the new government ``will be helpful with the Europeans'' for Bush, Pollack said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4157155,00.html?=ticker