Brown: U.S. Leading Fight Against Terror

The world is indebted to the United States for taking the lead in the fight against terrorism, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday, as he traveled to the U.S. for his first meeting with President George W. Bush since becoming British leader.

Brown said he planned to use the visit to strengthen what Britain considers its "most important bilateral relationship."

London and Washington were focused on "the biggest single and immediate challenge the world has to defeat: global terrorism," Brown told reporters traveling with him.

"In this century it has fallen to America to take center stage," Brown said. "America has shown by the resilience and bravery of its people from Sept. 11 that while buildings can be destroyed, values are indestructible."

"And we should acknowledge the debt the world owes to the United States for its leadership in this fight against international terrorism," he said.

Brown denied speculation that the relationship was cooling.

His predecessor, Tony Blair, was often accused at home of being too compliant with Bush's policies, especially regarding the Iraq war.

Aides said the British leader aimed to secure Bush's help in restarting the stalled Doha rounds of World Trade Organization talks, which seek to help poorer countries develop their economies through new trade. He also wanted to discuss a stiffer international response to the violence in Sudan's Darfur region.

Brown also hoped to discuss his desire for toughen sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, his spokesman Michael Ellam said.

Brown travels to the U.S. buoyed by a surprising degree of public support after a first month in office in which he impressed with his sober handling of the terror plots in London and Glasgow.

Many observers expected Brown to flop because of a personality often derided as dour and brooding — yet these very traits have helped him appear serious and statesmanlike.

Britons seem pleased with the contrast to the kinetic Blair — and the new leader is riding high in polls. But questions abound over whether the intellectual Brown will kindle Blair's chemistry with Bush.

Visits to Camp David and the United Nations, where Brown will make a speech, are highlights of the leader's first major overseas visit since he ended his 10-year wait to succeed Blair.

Brown arrives with some thorny issues in his policy folder, not least the fate of Britain's remaining soldiers in Iraq.

Military chiefs in London have said Britain is likely to hand over control of the southern Iraqi city of Basra to local forces by the end of the year, a move certain to spark a domestic clamor for more British troop withdrawals.

In London, The Sunday Times reported that Simon McDonald, Brown's chief foreign policy adviser, recently traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. officials before the prime minister's visit and discussed the possibility of an early British military withdrawal from Iraq.

Ellam told reporters on Sunday that McDonald had made it "very clear" to U.S. officials there had been no change to British government policy over Iraq during meetings.

But asked whether Brown intended to discuss with Bush future plans for British troops once they withdraw from Basra to a base on the fringes of the southern Iraqi city, Ellam said "clearly decisions have to be made on all of these matters."

Around 500 of Britain's 5,500 troops in Iraq are due to hand over the Basra Palace city center base within weeks, defense officials have said. Brown has not outlined plans for the remaining 5,000 personnel, stationed at an airport on the fringes of the city.

Ellam said there was no plan to withdraw British troops before the Iraqi army is deemed capable of maintaining security.

Other difficult themes include the American push to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, the Iran nuclear controversy, Darfur's misery, and the status of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo.

Brown said during talks with Bush he would stress equality, free speech, government accountability and opportunity for all — Britain and the United States' "shared values founded on a shared destiny."

"These are the ideas that bind and give us strength to work together to face down every major challenge ahead — from the danger of nuclear proliferation, global poverty, climate change."

Brown showed calm resolve when two failed car bombs were discovered in London's entertainment district on his second full day in office. A day later, he reassured the public when two men rammed a Jeep into Glasgow's airport.

The Scot's low-key authority was a departure from the hyperactive reaction from Blair's government to last summer's alleged plot to down U.S.-bound airliners, which tended to alarm the public rather than soothe it.

Brown's high ratings appear to be due chiefly to his emphasis of substance over spin — a key change from Blair.

The strategy has cemented Brown's authority and made the main opposition Conservative party, which has been accused of aping Blair's slick style, appear somewhat shallow.

In Washington, officials expressed optimism about warm ties between Bush and Brown.

But there have already been frictions.

Junior foreign affairs minister Mark Malloch-Brown raised eyebrows in Washington recently when he said Bush and Brown would not be "joined at the hip" — a jab at Blair's relationship with the U.S. president, which the press ridiculed as groveling.