Summit is 'last bit of diplomacy' effort

White House aides said US President George Bush approved the summit on the Azores and a brief extension of diplomacy out of respect for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose support for the US president has drawn severe criticism in Britain.

Spokesman Ari Fleischer described the talks as ”an effort to pursue every last bit of diplomacy” in the face of fading hopes for approval of a US war resolution.