Howard will meet Bush at the dusty Crawford property, dubbed the western White House, on May 2-3 to discuss efforts to rebuild post-war Iraq, the White House said.

Diplomatic efforts to ease the North Korean nuclear crisis, in which Australia has played a major role, are also sure to be high on the agenda at the meeting, which will take place less than three months after Howard last met Bush in Washington.

The Australian leader, who ignited fierce political criticism back home for his stance on the Iraq war, was invited to take part in a Bush council of war with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David last month, but deemed it the wrong time to travel.

His foreign minister Alexander Downer instead journeyed to Washington two weeks ago, and was granted an unusual audience with the president.

Australia "has stood as a strong ally and close friend on the major security challenges we face today," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"The president looks forward to extensive consultations and discussions with Prime Minister Howard about how to rebuild a liberated Iraq, ensuring the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction" and bolstering global trade, he said.

The next round of talks on a proposed US-Australia free-trade pact, an issue close to Howard's heart, is due to take place in May.

Howard sent a 2,000-strong contingent, including special operations troops, to the Iraq conflict, where they fought alongside larger US and British forces.

Earlier Monday, Howard mounted a strong defense of his decision to join Bush's war, in the face of stiff opposition at home.

He described the military operation in Iraq as "quite brilliant" and advised critical journalists to keep "silent for their own credibility".

"If what the coalition did was wrong, according to these people, how else do they think Saddam Hussein would have been removed -- by somebody issuing a press statement?" he said on commercial radio.

Howard will visit the Prairie Chapel ranch in Crawford, a flyspeck Texas town which is blistering hot in high summer, at a balmy time of year, and can bank on barbecues US-style and a pick-up truck tour of the property's attractions from his host.

He will join the "A-list" of world leaders in Bush's good books who have visited, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

His treatment contrasts sharply with the White House attitude to another US ally, Canada, where Prime Minister Jean Chretien has diverged with Bush on issues as diverse as the Iraq war and Canadian timber exports to the United States.

Ottawa on Sunday said Bush had postponed a planned trip to Canada just two days after he bids farewell to Howard in Texas, due to the war in Iraq, fuelling new claims of a serious rift between the two men.

The Texas visit will mark the fourth time Howard has travelled to the United States for one-on-one talks with Bush. He may travel on from Crawford for consultations on Iraq at the United Nations, though his intinerary is yet to be confirmed.

The Bush-Howard bond was forged when Howard was in Washington as terrorists hijacked passenger jets and took them on suicide missions at US targets on September 11, 2001.

He returned in June 2002, and again during the days of fevered February diplomacy before the Iraq war in February.

SPACE.WIRE