President Bush Gets Good News From Britain

President Bush was handed good news on two fronts on Monday from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This is a modest increase in Britain's troops for the tough Afghanistan fight and a fresh European effort to squeeze Iran's nuclear ambitions. This prime minister is deeply unpopular and he seemed to calculate he had more to gain politically by being hawkish than he risked losing by appearing at the side of the also unpopular Bush. When the two leaders addressed reporters in a Foreign Office hall two days after the meetings, Brown talked tough on Iran, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and other issues. These announcements combined with earlier pledges by other allies, allowed the White House to crow that Bush was returning home from his week-long European trip with new commitments. Aides had said beforehand that there would be none but they were wrong.