Bush, father share stage despite war-strain report

NEWPORT NEWS, Oct 8 (Reuters) US President George W Bush recalled his father's heroics as a World War II Navy pilot, during a rare joint appearance by the two men amid a report of strains in their relationship over Iraq.

A new book, ''State of Denial,'' by journalist Bob Woodward, says former president George Bush was ''anguished'' over the Iraq war and its aftermath, although the elder Bush has dismissed that account.

Yesterday, the two Bushes took part in the christening of the Navy's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, named the USS George H W Bush after the 41st president.

Amid rainfall and the crackle of thunder, the current president stood under the carrier's bow and said his 82-year-old father ''exemplifies the great character of our country.'' Said the elder Bush, ''I'm very proud of our president. I support him in every single way with every fiber of my body.'' Former President Bush was on a mission in the Pacific in 1944 when the Japanese fired on his plane. Although the plane caught on fire and was heavily damaged, Bush's father completed his mission to bomb a Japanese radio tower and then parachuted into the sea, where he was rescued by a US submarine.

His two crew members on the plane died.

The new ship, CVN 77, is the last of the Nimitz-class carriers, the largest warships in the world. It is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in 2008.

Bush's sister, Doro Bush Koch, christened it by cracking a bottle of champagne on its bow.

The president jokingly likened the new ship to his mother, who is known for her feistiness.

''She (the carrier) is unrelenting, she is unshakable, she is unyielding, she is unstoppable. As a matter of fact, (the ship) probably should have been named the Barbara Bush,'' he said.

The two Bush men have appeared together on public stages only occasionally in recent years, although the president visited his father in August at his parents' vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, who served under the first President Bush and has been critical of the current president's handling of Iraq, was quoted in Woodward's book as describing the elder Bush as in ''agony,'' ''anguished'' and ''tormented'' by how the war has played out.

But former President Bush, in an interview with the CNN talk show ''Larry King Live,'' dismissed Woodward's account of his views about Iraq as ''kind of second hand.'' He acknowledged concerns about the war, but he said his role was to stay on the sidelines and said he was not anguished.

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