After a lightning visit to Iraq where he hinted at possible US troop cuts, President George W. Bush arrived in Australia on Tuesday for an Asia-Pacific leaders' meeting amid heavy security and anti-war protests.
Trade and climate change will top the agenda at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, and Bush wants the forum's 21 economies to agree to a strongly worded pledge to reinvigorate the Doha round of world trade talks.
But the subject of Iraq will loom over Bush's visit to Australia, whose troop contribution there is featuring prominently in Prime Minister John Howard's re-election bid. Howard is a staunch Bush ally.
Stopping over at a desert air base in Iraq en route to Apec, Bush hailed progress in the war and raised the prospect of troop cuts after meeting top commanders. An opinion poll released on Tuesday, commissioned by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, found 52 percent of Australians believed Bush was the worst president in US history. Just 32 percent said he was not.
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