President Bush at the Vienna Summit tells Iran to hurry up and deal

President Bush again met with his EU counterparts inVienna to shore up some strategy and consensus.

Iran's Ahmadinejad announced today that Iran would respond to the West's incentive offer `by Aug. 22nd'.

Bush responded at a press conference in Vienna after conferring with EU leaders that this was insufficient.

"It shouldn't take the Iranians that long to analyze what is a reasonable deal," Bush said, adding that he wants a response from Iran in "weeks, not months."

Austrian Chancellor and Head of the European Council Wolfgang Schuessel agreed, saying "We've come to a crossroads on the Iran nuclear issue," Schuessel said. "Now is the right moment for Iran to take this offer, to grab it and to negotiate."

Considering that all they're asking of Iran in exchange for the goodies to get the ball rolling is a moratorium on uranium enrichment while talks are going on, it's hard not to see it that way.

My own bet is that Iran will announce an acceptance sometime in July...and continue its nuclear program on the sly anyway. All Bush is asking for is `verifiable compliance'.....and of course the `verifying ' will be done by Mohammed El Baradi and the clowns at the IAEA. How reassuring! I'm feeling better already.

The closure of Club Gitmo, a cause celebre' with the Europeans also came up, with Dubbya for the first time acknowledging that he wants to close down our summer resort for Islamic terrorists...as soon as an appropriate vehicle for trying them can be worked out.

The press conference grew very feisty once the European press began weighing in. Like the Main Stream Press here, they mostly hate Bush worse than California wine or Wisconsin cheese.

The reporters cited a recent poll which found that many Europeans consider the United States a threat to global stability.

"That's absurd," Bush snapped when asked about the poll results. He got even angrier grew when an obnoxious Austrian reporter insisted on reading him some specific poll numbers.

"Look, people didn't agree with my decision on Iraq, and I understand that. For Europe, September the 11th was a moment; for us, it was a change of thinking," he said.

Schuessel, unlike some of his fellow Europeans, has more than a smidgen of gratitude and remembrance of the past history. He reminded those present of World War II and America's post-war help for Europe to rebuild.

"Don't forget, I was born in 1945. ... I will never forget that America fed us," Schuessel said. "I think it's grotesque to say that America is a threat to the peace in the world compared with North Korea, Iran, other countries."

At least some people remember.