Bush wins British backing over Iran sanctions, Iraq and Afghanistan

U.S. President George W. Bush won Britain's backing on Monday for tighter sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program and secured a British pledge to send more troops to Afghanistan.

After talks with Bush on the last day of the president's farewell tour through Europe, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he expected European states to agree to impose some financial sanctions on Tehran and work to approve more.

"So today, Britain will urge Europe and Europe will agree to take further sanctions against Iran," he told a news conference. "First of all we will take action today that will freeze the overseas assets of the biggest bank in Iran, the Bank Melli."

US president George Bush today won Britain's backing for tighter sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme and secured a pledge to send more troops to Afghanistan.

After talks with Mr Bush in Downing Street on the last day of the president's farewell tour through Europe, British prime minister Gordon Brown said European states would agree to impose financial sanctions on Tehran.

"So today, Britain will urge Europe and Europe will agree to take further sanctions against Iran," he told a news conference. "First of all we will take action today that will freeze the overseas assets of the biggest bank in Iran, the bank Melli."

Those are some of the big themes George W. Bush's handlers have had in mind as they've sent their man out on overseas junkets in recent months. Their goal: to try to shore up - or alter - the already sharply defined legacy the self-styled "war president" will leave behind. Alas, it is that of an ignominious, failed presidency that has been marked by incompetence, lies, corruption, the polarization of Americans and of the United States' allies, and the pursuit of at least one, huge, aimless, endless, costly, illegal war that has bled Washington's treasury dangerously dry while irrevocably weakening the once-mighty U.S. dollar. (However, it has rewarded Halliburton, Dick Cheney's former employer, and countless other defense-contractor companies handsomely; see "Invitation to steal: War profiteering in Iraq," Asia Times)

US President George W Bush arrived in England on Sunday, meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as part of the latest stop in his week-long European trip.

The presidential couple attended dinner in London with Brown and his wife Sarah at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence.

As many as 2500 demonstrators held a boisterous rally in London's Parliament Square on Sunday as the US President George W Bush dined with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.