Bush defends foreign policy in final legacy tour

U.S. President George W. Bush stands with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the ceremony to commemorate foreign policy achievements at the State Department in Washington January 15, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday defended his foreign policy record -- from the unpopular war in Iraq to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea -- in a farewell bid to polish his troubled legacy.

"We have made the world freer," Bush insisted during a ceremony at the State Department five days before handing over the presidency to Democrat Barack Obama.

Though Bush focused on what he sees as his administration's successes, he will leave Obama with a stack of unfinished business, including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a conflict in the Gaza Strip and a U.S. image badly tarnished overseas.

Obama also inherits from Bush the worst financial crisis in nearly 80 years, a meltdown that has hobbled the U.S. economy and sent shockwaves across the globe.

With the clock ticking down on a presidency many historians already are ranking among the worst ever, Bush and his aides used his last day of public events before Inauguration Day to try to put a positive spin on his two terms in office.

"History's judgment is rarely the same as today's headlines," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a praise-filled introduction for her boss.

Bush will deliver his final words from the White House at 8 p.m. EST on Thursday, a 13-minute televised address he said would appeal to the American people to "continue to engage the world with confidence."

Farewell speeches are a ritual for departing U.S. leaders, but the stakes are especially high for Bush, who will step down with one of the lowest public approval ratings of any president in modern times -- in the mid-20 percent range.

Bush used his appearance at the State Department to insist the United States had made strides in the war on terrorism he declared after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

"We built a coalition of more than 90 nations to fight terror and advance the cause of freedom," he told State Department personnel and a sprinkling of foreign diplomats.

IRAQ WAR

Bush also touted security gains in Iraq as vindication for a U.S. troop buildup he ordered there at a time of rampant sectarian violence in 2007. "Iraq is becoming a rising democracy, an ally in the war on terror," he said.

The Iraq war, launched without U.N. authorization in 2003, undercut U.S. credibility abroad and contributed to a resounding victory by Obama against John McCain, nominee of Bush's Republican Party, in the November election.

Bush also made clear that he sees his failed effort to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians in his final year as not completely in vain, despite a 3-week-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza with no end in sight.

"We outlined a vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," Bush said, though little concrete progress was actually made toward Palestinian statehood on his watch.

Bush also lauded his administration's handling of Iran and North Korea, both of which have faced U.S.-led campaigns against their nuclear programs.

"We worked in a multilateral fashion to deal with issues like Iran and North Korea," he said of his efforts to isolate two of the countries he once branded part of an "axis of evil." Obama has said he would pursue direct diplomacy with foes.

"In Asia we deepened our alliances with old friends, Japan and South Korea, and we strengthened ties with China," Bush said, adding that his administration had opened a new strategic partnership with India and battled AIDS in Africa.

In thanking U.S. diplomats for their work overseas, Bush also alluded to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent seven years after being ousted by U.S.-led forces. Critics say he neglected the conflict because he was distracted by Iraq.

Bush made no mention, however, of the military detention center at Guantanamo, widely condemned by human rights groups. Harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects held there has, in the view of critics, damaged America's moral standing.

Obama has won praise overseas with a promise to move quickly to close Guantanamo and also break from what many regard as Bush's "cowboy diplomacy."

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and David Alexander; Editing by Eric Beech)