Better late than never. George Bush has admitted he could have chosen his words more carefully and that he has come across as a "guy anxious for war" because of his gun-slinging rhetoric.
In an interview with the Times on Air Force One, Bush, who is bowing out 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."
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.
Bush's poor standing in Europe is summed up by a foreign policy expert for Germany's centre-left Social Democrats. Hans-Ulrich Klose tells Spiegel Online International: "One really can't say George W Bush made the world a better place. On the contrary: his actions played a big part in damaging America's image around the world."
The International Herald Tribune is troubled by talk of a strike against Iran coming out of Israel, led by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister bedeviled by corruption charges.
"The United States and the other major powers need to address Tehran's nuclear ambitions, but with more assertive diplomacy - including greater financial pressures - not more threats or war planning," its leader says.
As for Bush's most enduring legacy, Iraq, the Washington Post reports on increasing resentment among Iraqi politicians about the US military presence. In negotiations on the future role of the American occupiers, the Post reports that Iraqi officials, encouraged by recent Iraqi military successes, want the US to confine American troops to military bases unless the Iraqis ask for their assistance, with some saying Iraq might be better off without them altogether.
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