Bush insists he means what he says

Bush insists he means what he says

By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

Blair looks to Bush to reassure doubters

Well the window dressing was there.

George Bush insisted post-war Iraq would be run by the Iraqis and only the Iraqis.

He said the UN would play a "vital role" in every aspect of creating the new, liberated Iraq.

His response to suggestions he was out to impose a leader on the country was a blunt: "forget it."

And to the "cynics" doubting his commitments he declared that they, like Saddam Hussein, would learn: "I mean what I say."

He also underscored his commitments to the wider Middle East and Northern Ireland peace processes.

No commitments

This was just what Tony Blair wanted to hear. More importantly, it is what Tony Blair wanted everyone else to hear.

The prime minister had desperately needed the president to calm fears about his intentions for post-war Iraq and to prove his talk about global peace was more than just talk.

He also wanted the president to visit him for a change. The poodle jibes have stung.

And the president certainly did his bit. Whether his words will have calmed the fears on the prime minister's backbenches and elsewhere still remains to be seen, however.

Once the statements are picked apart it is pretty clear that the president made no commitments over and above those already given at the Camp David and Azores summits.

He fell far short of guaranteeing that the UN would run Iraq after the conflict - a demand outlined by Welsh Secretary Peter Hain.

Detail matters

But then Tony Blair has also fallen short of making such a claim. Where that leaves Mr Hain is an open question.

The two leaders have now clearly come up with the formula of "a vital role" for the UN - without defining precisely what vital means.

The best the president could come up with was that, in relation to the interim authority, it meant "standing it up" and "suggesting" people to serve on it.

That presumably means the same as the Azores pledge that the UN would "endorse" the interim authority.

There was agreement that the UN would help with providing aid, but even that was far from precise. And it is the detail that matters here.

And it is only when that detail becomes clear - either through words or, better, deeds - that the doubters will be able to say whether this summit was more than window dressing.