CAMP DAVID, MD. — President Bush and Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, emphasized Monday that their nations are united by shared values and a deep commitment to defeat global terrorism.
But Brown also telegraphed his differences with the U.S. president over the issue, choosing to define the struggle as a fight against crime, instead of a war on terror, and calling Afghanistan, not Iraq, the front line.
The overnight visit to Bush's Camp David retreat was Brown's first trip to the United States since he took over last month from Tony Blair, who had an unusually close friendship with Bush and was an unwavering supporter of the Iraq war. It was also the first measure of the more arm's-length relationship Brown intends to establish with Washington.
Brown used the short news conference to signal that, though the United States and Britain are the diplomatic version of best friends, there are subtle differences in perspective, if not policy.
In his opening comments, Brown avoided using the term "war on terror" and asserted that "terrorism is not a cause, it is a crime." He also described Afghanistan as the "front line against terrorism." Bush usually describes the war in Iraq that way.
Brown made clear that the U.S. and Britain have a strong alliance and common values, but he stopped short of a personal endorsement of Bush's approach to terrorism. British commentators were quick to point out that Brown did not return Bush's effusive compliments. And Brown's request that both leaders wear suits sent a signal that the meeting was business, not pleasure.
Bush, however, gave no sign that the two leaders were anything but in sync. "So everybody's wondering whether or not the prime minister and I were able to find common ground, to get along, to have a meaningful discussion, and the answer is: absolutely," Bush told reporters.
'A glass-half-full man'
The president went out of his way to praise Brown's character, saying he is not the "dour Scotsman" of press accounts. "He's a glass-half-full man, not a glass-half-empty guy, you know?" Bush said.
The British prime minister, wary of the political damage Blair suffered over his closeness to the Bush administration, has given little indication that he'd like to replicate that relationship with Bush.
Instead, through his initial appointments and policy statements, Brown has hinted at a forthcoming drawdown of British troops in Iraq and a foreign policy grounded not only in London's relations with the United States, but in its position as a member of the European Union.
