Bush rues his war words

George Bush admits to the Times that he has come across as a "guy anxious for war" with his gun-slinging rhetoric. In an interview on Air Force One, Bush, who is ending two terms as one of America's most unpopular presidents, said he regretted the bitter divisions caused by the Iraq war and was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. "I think in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric." Well, better later than never.

The most striking change of tone, the Times detects, is the president's shift from unilateralism to multilateralism. "On the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, he no longer sounds like a wild-eyed unilateralist, bent on military action," the paper says.