Chicago Tribune

BRUSSELS, Belgium – It’s no surprise for President Bush, as he was reminded by a German reporter here Tuesday, that Europeans are still skeptical of him, with many viewing him as “dictating or unilateral” while some dismiss his European tour as a “major charm offensive.”

“Well, thank you,” Bush replied. “First time I’ve been called charming in a while.”

The ease and casual humor with which Bush is navigating a marathon of back-to-back meetings with the chiefs of two dozen European nations and entertaining leaders once bitterly at odds with him belies how fractured American relations with European powers have become after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The confidence that the president has exuded throughout his meetings with European leaders and the media is born partly of the political victory that handed him his second term. The president has staged a news conference a month in the United States since re-election and had two Tuesday in Brussels.

During a news conference on NATO, the president was reminded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently suggested it must have been “the old Rumsfeld” who chastised European nations for refusing to support the war in Iraq.

“Same old Bush,” the president replied with a laugh, cutting off his questioner.

Some Europeans worry that this really is the “same old Bush.” The president arrived this week with demands that Iran abandon any desire for nuclear weapons and that Russia commit itself to democratic reforms. And Bush did little Tuesday to dispel concerns that Iran could face the same U.S. assault as Iraq.

“This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous,” Bush said at a news conference with leaders of the European Union on Tuesday evening. “Having said that, all options are on the table.”

It’s clear that Bush is attempting to forge a new relationship with old European powers as he attempts to convince nations from the Middle East to Russia that “freedom is on the march.”

“It’s the same old Bush, as far as the philosophy,” said Dominique Moisi, senior adviser at the French Institute for International Relations. “But it’s a new Bush, as far as the style, the tone and the recognition that, to achieve the goals of the old Bush, he needs the style of the new Bush.”

On Tuesday, Bush expressed a willingness to listen on one of the biggest issues dividing the EU and the United States: lifting a European embargo on arms sales to China in place since 1989.

The Bush administration opposes that action, but the president suggested that Europeans could try to convince Congress that arms sales to China won’t jeopardize Taiwan.

“There is deep concern in our country that a transfer of weapons would be a transfer of technology to China, which would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan, and that’s of concern,” Bush said. “They need to be sure that if they do so, that they sell it to the U.S. Congress. But the Congress will be making the decisions as to whether or not (that is perceived as) a transfer to China.”

The president’s confidence also stems from the achievement of a long-elusive agreement by the 26 member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization this week to support, in at least some small way, rebuilding Iraq.

This includes 10 NATO nations that abstained from the “coalition of the willing” that the U.S. assembled for the invasion of Iraq, and it includes once-vocal opponent France, which is offering some money for NATO’s training of security forces for Iraq.

France’s concession is small, committing an undisclosed amount to a larger, $4 million fund that NATO has organized for training Iraqi security forces.

In recent weeks, according to a senior Bush administration official, holdouts Luxembourg, Greece and Germany also have agreed to contribute modest sums – ranging from 400,000 to 500,000 euros apiece.

“We are very pleased. For the first time in three years, we now have unity of purpose,” said the official, describing this agreement as the start of a new chapter in U.S.-European relations. “There was a sense that we have had the big trans-Atlantic row over Iraq. It’s time to move on. We have taken a new step towards trans-Atlantic unity.”

Bush insists he has heeded European sentiments.

“I’ve been listening,” Bush said Tuesday. “You might call this a listening tour. … The major issue that irritated a lot of Europeans was Iraq. I understand that. I can figure it out. … And the key now is to put that behind us.”

Yet that doesn’t mean the “new Bush” stands ready to answer every question presented to him about the policies he is promoting in Europe this week.

After breakfast with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the American ambassador’s residence in Brussels on Tuesday, neither Bush nor Blair was prepared to take any reporters’ questions. As one shouted out a question to Blair about Bush’s stance on Iran, the two walked away.

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