Protesters greeted the US president on his first visit to the Germancapital. Derek Scally reports from Berlin
The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, is expected to press President Bush on whether he plans to launch a military strike against Iraq before Mr Bush addresses the German Bundestag today.
The US president arrived in Berlin yesterday evening, his first visit to Germany, accompanied by his wife, Laura, and met Mr Schröder for an informal dinner.
The president will leave for Moscow later today to sign a nuclear weapons disarmament treaty with his Russian counterpart, Mr Vladimir Putin, before continuing to Paris and Rome.
As the two leaders dined in a restaurant in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate, nearly 10,000 demonstrators from the group "Axis for Peace" protested against Mr Bush's visit nearby.
With a 2 km exclusion zone around the Brandenburg Gate, dozens of protesters brought drums and held a "drum protest" to let Mr Bush know they were there. German officials said they were ready to act if, as feared, a hard-core of 2,000 far-left protesters hijack peaceful anti-Bush demonstrations today.
Before leaving Washington, Mr Bush said the relationship between the US and Europe was "strong and healthy" and stressed the importance of remaining vigilant against terrorist attacks.
German officials said Mr Bush would use his Bundestag address this afternoon to give encouragement to US partners in the eight-month war on terror.
However, leading German politicians reacted with alarm when it emerged that Mr Bush might mention in his speech the possibility of a military strike on Iraq.
In an interview with German public television, Mr Bush said: "I have no deployment plans ready on my desk but I am checking all options."
Pressed further about his plans for President Saddam Hussein, he said he would "speak plainly [in Berlin\] about the dangers this man poses and the danger we must now take seriously".
Mr Peter Struck, the parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, said Mr Bush would receive no support from Europe for a strike on Iraq without a UN mandate and without firm proof of a link between President Saddam and al-Qaeda.
"It would be wrong if Bush feels he has to end in Iraq what his father started," he said. A leading member of the SPD coalition partners, the Green Party, went further,accusing Mr Bush of "growing fundamentalism" in the war on terror.
In a €3 million security operation, more than 10,000 German police and 600 US Secret Service agents will protect Mr Bush during his stay in the exclusive Hotel Adlon adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate.
He will see a familiar sight when he looks out his hotel window as the monument, currently being renovated, is shrouded in an advertising hoarding showing an image of the Brandenburg Gate with the White House visible behind.
After an official audience this morning with the German president, Mr Johannes Rau, Mr Bush will return to the Chancellery for further talks which will centre on Iraq, the Middle East and US steel tariffs and farm subsidies.
Afterwards, he will deliver a 45-minute speech to the Bundestag.
Police sealed off the government district yesterday afternoon and black-clad sharp-shooters were visible on buildings in the area. A special team patrolled Berlin's waterways and sewers while another team welded shut all manholes and removed bins in the area.
Today's visit is very different to visits by Mr Bush's predecessors, a mark of how times have changed in the German capital. Berliners remember fondly President John F. Kennedy's visit in 1963 and his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
Yesterday posters appeared in the city centre telling Mr Bush "Du bist kein Berliner" - you are no Berliner.
President Ronald Reagan's visit in 1987 culminated with his appeal to the then Russian president in front of the Berlin Wall: "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
The left-wing Tageszeitung newspaper urged Mr Bush to "tear down" his own wall of protectionist tariffs and subsidies.
One in two Germans has a negative view of Mr Bush, according to a survey, a degree of dislike shared in Europe only by the French.
Yesterday, Mr Schröder appealed for peaceful demonstrations in Berlin today, but Mr Bush said he was untroubled by the demonstrators. "I come gladly to a country where people are allowed to express their opinion," he said.
AFP reports from Paris:
In Paris, a coalition of left-wing parties and associations has called for protests on Sunday against Washington's Middle East policy, when Mr Bush arrives on his first official visit to France.
The Greens have called on environmental activists to protest in both Paris and Caen on Sunday, to denounce Mr Bush's renunciation of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse emissions.
The party accused Mr Bush of bowing to powerful lobbies in Washington, such as the motor or oil industries, that "cause the most pollution" and "financed his electoral campaign".
Anti-globalisation protesters are expected to take to the streets of Caen on Monday when Mr Bush addresses a Memorial Day service honouring US military veterans.