Bush, British Leader Meet to Talk About Earth Summit, Yugoslavia

CAMP DAVID, Md. — President Bush and British Prime Minister John Major met here Saturday, the 48th anniversary of D-Day in World War II, to discuss the latest crises to confront the old allies.

“It’s fitting that the prime minister and I meet on this historic anniversary . . . to talk about our enduring and special relationship,” Bush said in welcoming Major and his wife to the presidential retreat 70 miles northwest of Washington.

The two leaders were scheduled to hold weekend talks on the Earth Summit in Brazil, as well as on the ethnic violence in Yugoslavia and aid to Eastern Europe and the states of the former Soviet Union.

Major praised the U.S. role in D-Day, the June 6, 1944, Allied invasion of Europe, saying it was the U.S. presence that enabled the war to be won.

Now, he said, the United States is the sole superpower in the world and it is U.S. leadership “that will help to keep free and make free that part of the West that until recently has been under all sorts of appalling domination.”

Bush and Major, who are to hold a news conference today after their talks, declined to take questions.

Major, making his fourth visit to the United States, leaves Tuesday for Colombia en route to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Bush will fly to Rio later in the week.