Berlusconi Effusive in Welcoming President

Bush, in Rome Visit, Says Italian Troops to Take On Broader Mission in Afghanistan

ROME, June 12 -- If there were any doubt about which current European leader is closest to President Bush, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi erased it here on Thursday.

Appearing with Bush at a news conference held in a breathtaking Renaissance villa overlooking the Eternal City, the garrulous Berlusconi called Bush a "personal friend," a "very close friend" and a "very unique person," and praised his "vision" and "courage." Berlusconi offered to help in efforts to stop Iran from pursuing a uranium enrichment program and, Bush said, cleared the way for Italian troops in Afghanistan to operate in areas with the heaviest fighting.

Berlusconi also made the unusual suggestion that Bush could be a visiting professor at a new Italian school to be called "the University of Liberal Thinking."

Bush did not respond to that idea but returned the kind words. "We're good friends, and I appreciate that very much," he said.

Bush's visit with Berlusconi was part of his third stop on an eight-day European farewell trip, which is to continue Friday morning with his third visit with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Bush met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier in the week and will also see French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Europeans in the group have been part of a notable warming in the transatlantic relationship during Bush's second term, a trend Bush is expected to cite in a speech scheduled for Friday in Paris.

The closer ties among leaders stand in contrast to European public opinion, which remains heavily against Bush. Scattered protesters demonstrated in Rome on Thursday, including some who chanted, "Bush go home!" as he arrived for a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

Berlusconi, the swashbuckling media baron and financier who was returned to office in May after losing power in 2006, has been one of Bush's staunchest allies on the world stage. He was the first European leader to back the Iraq war, and has unabashedly stood by a U.S. president who has remained consistently unpopular among the Italian public.

During Thursday's news conference, Bush said Berlusconi had assured him that Italy had removed "caveats" that restricted the use of Italian troops in the areas of Afghanistan with the heaviest fighting against the Taliban. Italy's previous resistance to sending any of its 2,700 troops in Afghanistan to those areas has prompted complaints from NATO and the United States.

Berlusconi also repeated his offer to join a six-nation group that is conducting talks with Iran, noting Italy's large commercial ties with that country.

Bush, however, said only that he "would seriously consider it." Other nations in the group appear cool to the idea, and White House aides said this week that opening the door to more members could create problems.

The group, which includes Germany and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, is expected in coming days to present Iran with a new offer of incentives to abandon a uranium enrichment program and open its doors to international inspectors. During a U.S.-European Union summit this week in Slovenia, leaders issued a joint statement threatening to impose banking restrictions and other sanctions if Iran does not comply.

Bush and Berlusconi met at the Villa Madama, which was designed by Raphael for the Medicis. The pair were all smiles in their public appearances, and the Italian leader was particularly effusive in his praise.

"I thank you very much, Mr. President, for your friendship between the two of us, on a personal level, your friendship shown to our country, and I thank you for the very courageous role that you have always taken as the leader of the most important country in the world," Berlusconi said.