He also delivered a mixed message to allies worried that he is mulling military action against Tehran, saying: "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous."

"Having said that, all options are on the table."

After back-to-back NATO and European Union summits, Bush was to leave Brussels Wednesday to patch up relations with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Slovakia.

Bush hailed pledges by all 26 NATO members to help train the Iraqi forces he says will eventually replace US soldiers, but signalled that Washington might take punitive steps against the EU if it ends the weapons ban on China.

"There is deep concern in our country that a transfer of weapons would be a transfer of technology to China, which would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan," he said after a NATO summit.

Bush said he was open to EU efforts to craft a plan to ensure that the ban does not lead to a significant shift in the quantity or quality of armaments sold to China, but added skeptically: "Whether they can or not, we'll see."

At issue is the European Union's plan to end a ban on exports of military hardware imposed on China in 1989 to protest the brutal suppression of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.

French President Jacques Chirac called for the lifting of a European embargo on arms sales to China, but said the United States and Europe should work together to ensure the conditions were right.

Although Bush did not spell out what punitive measures could be taken, US presidential aides pointed to a sharply worded, non-binding US congressional resolution passed earlier this month which warns of "limitations and constraints" on government and industrial relations between the United States and Europe if the ban is lifted.

The US president, who described his mission here as "a listening tour," unapologetically defended the March 2003 invasion of Iraq even as he thanked NATO for taking on the "important mission" of training Iraqi forces.

"We liberated Iraq. And that decision has been made, it's over with and now it is time to unify for the sake of peace," he said. "The key now is to put that behind us and to focus on helping the new democracy succeed."

As NATO leaders confirmed that all 26 member countries were taking part in some capacity in the training mission, Bush downplayed the relatively small scale of the contributions in favor of their symbolic importance.

"Every contribution matters. Twenty-six nations sitting around that table said it's important for NATO to be involved in Iraq. That's a strong statement," said Bush.

EU leaders also confirmed that they were prepared to co-host a conference on Iraq with the United States if asked to by the new Iraqi government.

Germany is providing training to Iraqi officers in the United Arab Emirates, and one French officer will be involved in the mission to coordinate offers of equipment for the Iraqi army. France has made a seperate offer to train police in Qatar.

In the two-day charm offensive, Bush also met with a wave of world leaders, including a dinner date Monday with French President Jacques Chirac and breakfast with his staunchest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The president also met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and had his first face-to-face meeting with new Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

Bush said he told Yushchenko that NATO's "door is open" but that membership is contingent on embracing strong democratic institutions.

The US president also took up another theme of his visit, a row over the US refusal to join the Kyoto protocol aimed at cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, blamed for global warming.

"The Kyoto debate is beyond us. As far as I'm concerned, now is the time to focus on our abilities and research and capacity to develop technologies to make the air cleaner so that our people can have the standard of living they expect, at the same time that we're good stewards of the Earth."

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.