Three great friends to America are set to receive the country’s highest civilian honor, the White House says.

President Bush will present former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom next week.

These are terrific choices.

Blair and Howard were steadfast allies in the War on Terror, with their countries among the few to commit ground forces to the initial invasion of Iraq.

Uribe, meanwhile, has been fighting terror of a homegrown sort: During his term in office, he’s transformed Colombia from a lawless narco-state besieged by Marxist rebels to a stable democracy.

In the meantime, the country’s become America’s strongest ally in the region – and a crucial counterweight to strongman Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela.

Bush’s presidency, as has been said, often antagonized other national leaders.

True enough. But this was as often as not a reflection of the reluctance of other leaders to shoulder their responsibilities in a fractious and dangerous world.

Blair, Howard and Uribe were conspicuous exceptions, and Bush is quite right to honor them.