Bush Makes Goodbye Calls to Putin, World Leaders

WASHINGTON – With just hours left in his presidency, President George W. Bush on Monday made a round of phone calls to more than a dozen leaders around the globe.

The White House said Bush chatted with: President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia; President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia; President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea; Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark; Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy; former President Vicente Fox of Mexico; Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan; and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain; President Shimon Peres of Israel; Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; French President Nicolas Sarkozy; and German Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that during the farewell calls, Bush thanked the leaders for the hospitality they had shown him and first lady Laura Bush over the years.