Sunday, Sep 28, 2003
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The leaders, standing by each other at a news conference after two days of talks, also said they looked forward to building a free, democratic Iraq despite differences over the U.S.-led war. Mr. Bush, speaking about Iran, said, ``We share a goal and that is to make sure that Iran doesn't have any nuclear weapon or a nuclear weapons programme.'' The U.S. and Russia, he said, ``also understand that we need to work together to persuade Iran to abandon any ambitions she may have. What's important is we understand that it's in our national interests to ensure that Iran doesn't develop a nuclear weapon,'' Mr. Bush said. Mr. Putin said the U.S. and Russia wanted to send ``a clear but respectful signal to Iran'' to increase its cooperation with the world agency that oversees nuclear non-proliferation. Despite differences over the Iraq war, both the leaders stressed their strong relationship. ``I'm honoured to have him here and I appreciate the great dialogue we had last night and today,'' Mr. Bush said. It was their first meeting in four months since they held talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, and an economic summit in France. Every time the two leaders meet, the difficult disagreements in the Washington-Moscow relationship — the most delicate being Iraq, Iran and Chechnya — are pushed to the background. Mr. Bush greeted Mr. Putin with a hug, a backslap, a handshake and smiles all around on a sunny fall afternoon. ``Glad you're here,'' he said, and then ferried the Russian President by golf cart into the wooded, rustic comfort of the mountain compound. Topping their agenda, Bush aides said, were joint efforts to fight terrorism worldwide, the difficult search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the reconstruction of Iraq and prevention of the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Nearly all those topics contain pitfalls. Mr. Putin staunchly opposed the U.S. war in Iraq. He has also expressed distress over the continuing conflict and demanded a greater United Nations role in Iraq reconstruction that Mr. Bush wants before helping to share the burden there. Russia's nuclear assistance to Iran, in which it has lucrative contracts to help to build an $800- million power plant, is also a sore point. U.S. officials claim Russian technology is helping Teheran develop nuclear weapons and contribute to the proliferation of unconventional weapons. With Mr. Putin seeing the Chechnya war as part of his own battle against terror, U.S. opposition to Moscow's ongoing military campaign against separatists there was softened after Mr. Putin offered support for the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign. But last week, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Steven Pifer, warned the topic was among the most troubling issues facing the Camp David talks, comments that infuriated the Russians.
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