Bush tells of his regrets over 'anxiety for war in Iraq'

He blamed it on his often hardline rhetoric, saying: 'I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone'.

Though he defended his decision to invade Iraq five years ago, Mr Bush acknowledges the build-up could have been handled differently.

He added: 'One of the untold stories of Iraq is that we explored the diplomacy a lot. After all, I went to the United Nations Security Council.'

Mates: George Bush walks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a government guest house in Meseberg north of Berlin

Mr Bush said he tried to meet as many families of U.S. war dead as he could, adding: 'I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure those lives were not lost in vain.'

Speaking ahead of a meeting today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Bush rejected suggestions that many on the continent view his nation as 'a force of evil'.

In an interview with The Times, he said: 'I don't buy into that theory. America is a force for good. America is a force for liberty. America is a force to fight disease.'

He offered support for Gordon Brown, who he will meet on Sunday. The president said the Prime Minister needed no advice on dealing with his current difficulties. He was 'plenty confident and plenty smart, plenty capable - he can sort it out'.

Continuing to dwell on the legacy of the Iraq war, Mr Bush said he found it painful 'to put youngsters in harm's way'.

In step: the two leaders' appeared to be imitating each other's body language

He added: 'I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.

'One of the untold stories of Iraq is that we explored the diplomacy a lot. After all, I went to the United Nations Security Council.'

Mr Bush was keen to avoid seeming to take credit for the decline in violence in Iraq. 'I don't look at this thing in personal terms,' he said.

'I view it as confirmation of certain fundamental truths that are necessary, and will be necessary, to bring peace.'

As the clock ticks down on his final six months in office, Mr Bush said he feared that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama might fracture the West's united front towards Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

No regrets: A U.S. soldier patrols in front of a 5km-long concrete barrier dividing the north from the southern district of Baghdad's Sadr City

He claimed that when his successor assessed 'what will work or what won't work in dealing with Iran', he would keep the current policy.

Mr Bush met with Ms Merkel this morning in a villa outside Berlin for talks expected to largely focus on both leaders' desire to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The U.S. President is eager to resolve the nuclear standoff with Tehran before his term ends.

Global warming, Afghanistan and relations with Russia also were expected topics at Bush's meeting with Merkel at Schloss Meseberg, an elegant guest house of the German government about 50 miles north of Berlin.

Mr Bush has close ties with Merkel, and has hosted her at his Texas ranch. But their relationship hit a bump at a Nato summit in Romania in April when they split over whether to give Georgia and Ukraine a path to membership in the alliance.

The two were all smiles, though, when the American president arrived by helicopter to attend a social dinner Tuesday evening.