Bush: we're kicking ass in Iraq

By George: now it's all the way with Howard J

Phillip Coorey
Sydney Morning Herald

JOHN HOWARD, he pointed out again yesterday, first met George Bush in Washington on September 10, 2001.

We all know that the events of the next day cemented a friendship unprecedented for leaders of the US and Australia.

On the day they met, the 50th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty, Bush presented Howard with a gift - the bell from the USS Canberra. It was the only US naval ship named in honour of an ally's sunken vessel.

The HMAS Canberra was sunk in 1942 in the battle of Savo Island, near Guadalcanal.

Today the US President will visit the National Maritime Museum to view the bell. It could be construed as an act of symmetry, given if Howard loses the election, this week would be the last time he and Bush see each other in their respective roles.

This was obviously apparent to Bush, who arrived in Australia in a chipper mood.

"We're kicking ass," he told Mark Vaile on the tarmac after the Deputy Prime Minister inquired politely of the President's stopover in Iraq en route to Sydney.

(Continued here.)