US, UK relationship is enduring: Obama

"Even as more nations take on the responsibilities of global leadership," Obama said, "Our alliance will remain indispensible to the goal of a century that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more just." "After a difficult decade that began with war and ended in recession, our nations have arrived at a pivotal moment once more," he said.

Obama was granted the honor of being the first US president to speak from the grand setting of Westminster Hall, and he received a deeply friendly welcome. He recounted a history between two countries an ocean apart that was conceived in war but matured into an indispensable global force for economic growth, security, democracy and peace.

His speech came not long after Obama stood with Prime Minister David Cameron in promising jointly to continue a relentless and punishing campaign against Muammar Qaddafi's forces in Libya, saying there "will not be a let-up" in pressure to force Qaddafi out.

At a news conference with his British counterpart, Obama ruled out a deadline for ending NATO's military assault but said it would be over "in a timely fashion."

"I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain the course we're on, he will step down," the president said of Qaddafi.

There was unity on Libya, but the news conference exposed a split between the two leaders on the Middle East peace process. Cameron backed Obama's recently articulated call for a peace process to restart on the basis of Israel's pre-1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps. But while Obama strongly condemned the Palestinians' plan to unilaterally seek statehood recognition from the United Nations, Cameron said it wasn't the right time to weigh in on that.

After the news conference, Obama spoke to both houses of Parliament gathered in the cavernous 11th century Westminster Hall where generations of rulers have held coronation banquets and where many others lay in state while awaiting burial.

His address came midway through a four-country European tour during which he's connected with his unlikely Irish roots and enjoyed the hospitality of Queen Elizabeth, even while keeping an eye on events at home where casualties are mounting from a virtually unprecedented monster tornado in Missouri; Kazinform cites Arab News.

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