Bush Going To Middle East, I have this feeling that.......

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- George W. Bush heads to Israel and the West Bank for the first time as president Tuesday on a mission aimed at spurring the fragile Mideast peace process.


Bush walks with Israeli leader Ehud Olmert, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last November.

1 of 2 Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush said he hopes to get Israelis and Palestinians to agree on clear definitions of a future independent Palestinian state.

"They need to have a vision that competes with the terrorists and the killers who murder the innocent people to stop the advance of democracy," Bush said.

The president said he also intends to work with "Arab friends and allies on this very issue" and remind them of the strategy and obligations "they have to help this vision become a reality."

In the region, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem and agreed to have their negotiating teams "conduct direct and ongoing negotiations on all final status/core issues," Olmert's spokesman said.

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Cheney is going to off him and become President for life................:shrug: :scared::scared: :hi:

Security is tight ahead of Bush's scheduled arrival on Wednesday. So much so, that large parts of Jerusalem and much of the West Bank, including Ramallah, will be, in effect, shut down.

Concerns heightened over the weekend after American al Qaeda member Adam Yahiye Gadahn released a videotape calling on followers to "receive not with flowers or clapping but with bombs and booby-trapped vehicles." Watch Gadahn's ominous warning »

More than 10,000 police will be deployed across the region to back U.S. federal officers in what is the largest security operation in Israel since Pope John Paul II's visit in March 2000.

Security will also be heavy at a number of large demonstrations in Israel planned to protest Bush's visit.

When first lady Laura Bush visited Jerusalem's holy sites in 2005, she faced angry crowds of Israelis and Palestinians, which forced Israeli police to form a human wall separating her from the protesters.

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To minimize his exposure, Bush will do most of his traveling by helicopter but some stops on in his itinerary, particularly in the West Bank, are reachable only by car and on foot. That, security analysts say, will be the most dangerous time for the president.

During his tour of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority will aid U.S. security teams in protecting the president.

On Friday, Bush is scheduled to depart Jerusalem for Kuwait. He will then head to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He returns to Washington next Wednesday.

Bush's itinerary
Israel

West Bank

Kuwait

Bahrain

United Arab Emirates

Saudi Arabia

Egypt

Source: White House
A major challenge for Bush will be keeping the trip focused on Israeli-Palestinian peace while other issues -- Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and soaring oil prices -- dominate the media headlines and serve as reminders of the region's instability.

Bush hopes to have a peace deal before he leaves office in a year, and both Abbas and Olmert agreed to work toward such an agreement at the November 27 U.S.-sponsored peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland.

Subsequent meetings between the Israeli and Palestinian delegations have been overshadowed by disagreements over Israel's plans to expand settlements in disputed areas of the West Bank.

The efforts to restart serious peace talks have also been overshadowed by ongoing rocket assaults from Hamas-controlled Gaza that have prompted a strong Israeli military response.

When Bush took office in 2001, his aides were scornful of his predecessor's attempt to achieve peace at Camp David in the waning days of his presidency, accusing former President Bill Clinton of trying to do too much, too fast.

P.J. Crowley, who once advised Clinton on national security issues, said the Bush administration has paid a price for its go-slow approach.

"Even with the Camp David failure, there was still a lot of material on the table that the Bush administration could have pursued had it chosen to give the Middle East peace process a priority in 2001," said Crowley, now of the Center for American Progress. "The president took a different tack."

However, Bush aides insist the president's incremental approach is now bearing fruit because he can work with Abbas, unlike the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat -- who they saw as an obstacle.

"The president has been working fairly consistently over seven years to put in place the building blocks of what now offers an opportunity for peace," said White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley. "And he has seized that opportunity."

Just prior to Air Force One's departure time Tuesday, Bush met at the White House with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, praising Ankara's fight against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

The PKK has waged a guerrilla war against Turkey for Kurdish self-rule since 1984 and has set off bombs in large cities.


"It's an enemy to Turkey, it's an enemy to Iraq and it's an enemy to people who want to live in peace," Bush said in a brief joint news conference with Gul on the White House South Lawn.

Last month, Turkey's ambassador to the United States said Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq were based on intelligence provided by the United States

been expecting dick to pull a stunt like that when he is backed far enough into the corner.

it- but I've had a similar nagging fear.

The timing of this trip is really bad- And the Rep. party is tanking (imo)

I hope it's nothing more than paranoia.

:tinfoilhat:

I imagine bush is going to have something to pull out of his ass to somehow make his abysmal tenure as president look good such as peace in the middle east. (as if that's gonna happen)

I was thinking the same thing last night...except my thoughts leaned more toward them FAKING his death so he can go live on that Paraguay property he bought. They bought that property for a reason. Cheney becomes Prez, picks JEB as VP, Cheney "dies" while in office from that bad heart he has (moves to Paraguay) and Jeb becomes prez....and runs for office.

:hide: