Guest editorial: Britain state visit

A poll by the Guardian newspaper, no friend of the Bush administration -- its cartoonist welcomed Bush by portraying the president hanging from the flagpole of Buckingham Palace -- found that "public opinion is overwhelmingly pro-American." Almost two-thirds said America was a force for good in the world. And more Britons supported the war in Iraq than opposed it.

Rather than damage British Prime Minister Tony Blair's shaky public approval rating, the Bush visit might actually improve it.

In a major address well-received at Whitehall Palace, Bush stressed that the United States and the United Kingdom are united in an "alliance of values" and it was those values that led the two nations to intercede in Iraq:

"We value our own civil rights, so we stand for the human rights of others. We affirm the God-given dignity of every person, so we are moved to action by poverty and oppression and famine and disease. The United States and Great Britain share a mission in the world beyond the balance of power or the simple pursuit of interest. We seek the advance of freedom and the peace that freedom brings. Together our nations are standing and sacrificing for this high goal in a distant land at this very hour. And America honors the idealism and the bravery of the sons and daughters of Britain."

And Bush addressed European fears that the United States, weary of the daily casualties, might simply pull out of Iraq. To applause, he said, "We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq and pay a bitter cost of casualties, and liberate 25 million people, only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins."

Blair has been harshly criticized for his stalwart support of Bush and intervention in Iraq, "poodle" being among the kinder invective. At the conclusion of his speech, the president pointedly praised Blair for his "good judgment and blunt counsel and backbone."

Midway through his visit, President Bush -- and his speech writers -- have risen admirably to the occasion.