Albania Gives Bush A Hero's Welcome

President Bush, leaving behind thousands of protesters in Rome, got a hero's welcome in Albania on Sunday as he became the first American president to visit this tiny impoverished nation.

When Mr. Bush arrived on his brief stop in Tirana, the hills overlooking the capital boomed as military cannons fired a 21-gun salute to the president. Thousands of people gathered in the downtown square on a brilliantly sunny day to see the president and first lady Laura Bush.

Huge banners proclaimed "Proud to be Partners," and billboards read "President Bush in Albania Making History." Red-white-and-blue paper top hats with stars on top were passed out to well-wishers in this Balkan nation.

A herald trumpeter sounded a salute as Mr. Bush arrived at Albania's Palace of Brigades for an official welcome, playing "The Star Spangled Banner," reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller. Mr. Bush was presented with an Albanian award - the Order of the National Flag - hailing him as a great ally of the Albanian people.

Albania has such an affinity for America that it issued three postage stamps with Mr. Bush's picture and the Statue of Liberty and renamed a street in front of parliament in his honor.

Mr. Bush said he wanted to encourage Albania's free society, but it also makes good political sense on the world stage for him to stop in Albania and be seen receiving a robust greeting in the predominantly Muslim country.

"I want to make sure the Albanian people understand that America knows that you exist and that you're making difficult choices to cement your free society," Mr. Bush said in a pre-trip interview. "I'm coming as a lover of liberty to a land where people are realizing the benefits of liberty."

Mr. Bush met with Albanian President Alfred Moisiu and Berisha and greeted troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Albania recently decided to triple its deployment in Afghanistan to 140 troops. It also has about 120 troops in Iraq — a presence that Moisiu says will not end as long as Americans are engaged there.

Mr. Bush said he told the Albanian troops: "You are respected by our military. Your soldiers are good at what they do. They're well-trained, courageous and disciplined."

One issue on the minds of all assembled is neighboring Kosovo. The United States and key European countries are trying to narrow differences with Russia over the future of Kosovo, which has been administered by the U.N. since a 1999 war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

The U.N. Security Council has been divided over the issue; the United States and key European countries support Kosovo's independence, and Russia (traditionally a Serbian ally) opposes it.

Ethnic Albanians, who say they are descendants of Kosovo's first inhabitants, want Kosovo to become an independent state. Serbs have offered it broad autonomy, but want the province to remain part of Serbian territory. Serbs consider Kosovo, the scene of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389, the birthplace of their identity and the heart of their homeland.

In Rome, where his visit was protested by thousands of demonstrators, Bush said it was time to bring the issue of Kosovo "to a head."

Mr. Bush said he understood there were deep concerns about the plan.

"Kosovars are eagerly anticipating a decision by the world. And at the same time ... we need to make sure the Serbs see a way forward," Mr. Bush said.

Talks on the future status of Kosovo must have the goal of "certain independence," Mr. Bush said Sunday, reiterating Washington's support for eventual statehood for the Serbian province.

"The question is whether there's going to be endless dialogue on a subject that we've already made up our mind on," Mr. Bush told reporters after meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. "I'm worried about expectations not being met in Kosovo. And therefore we'll push the process."

"Sooner rather than later you've got to say, 'Enough's enough. Kosovo's independent,'" Mr. Bush said.

The president also was having lunch with the prime ministers of Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, which hope to join NATO next year.

Albania desperately wants membership in NATO and the European Union, but even though it has soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan and wholeheartedly backs Washington, Mr. Bush has not been that upbeat about its chances.

NATO has pushed forward plans to invite Croatia, Macedonia and Albania to the alliance early next year if they meet membership conditions.

Russia has opposed successive enlargements of NATO into eastern Europe. The likely NATO expansion into the Balkans does not please Russia, but the Kremlin is much more concerned about the prospect that its neighbors Ukraine and Georgia may also be brought into the Western alliance.

"There's a certain map that has to be followed, a certain way forward, there are certain obligations that have to be met," Mr. Bush said. "My only advice is: work as hard as you possibly can to achieve the different benchmarks that would cause the NATO members to accept Albania."

Albania also does not seem likely to gain entry into the EU any time soon.

The EU admitted Balkan neighbors Romania and Bulgaria in January. But the EU seems likely to stop there for now, unwilling to take in more poor countries, such as Turkey, Ukraine or Albania, that will cost the wealthier member states billions of dollars in subsidies to bring their economies up to Western standards.