BRUSSELS, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Monday urged Europe to put away past differences with the United States and forge a new era of transatlantic cooperation.
The alliance of United States and Europe, was the pillar of security, the engine for economic growth and an example of economic and political freedom to the world's impoverished and oppressed, he said in Brussels.
"Today, America and Europe face a moment of consequence and opportunity," he said. "Together we can once again set history on a hopeful course - away from poverty and despair, and toward development and the dignity of self-rule ... away from resentment and violence and toward justice and the peaceful settlement of differences. ... As past debates fade, and great duties become clear, let us begin a new era of transatlantic unity."
Brussels was the first stop on Bush's four-day trip to help heal the diplomatic rift caused by the Iraq War. Also on Bush's agenda was more European help in Iraq, in Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects and in diffusing dangers posed by Syria's occupation of Lebanon and Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.
