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Bush ends a Middle East trip today in which he told regional allies that Iran is a threat
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January 16, 2008, 10:45
President George W Bush ends a Middle East trip today in which he told regional allies that Iran is a threat, Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts need support, and high oil prices are in no one's interest. Bush headed for Egypt after spending two nights in Saudi Arabia stressing close personal ties and during an overnight stay at King Abdullah's desert ranch planned to bring up his concern about oil prices that have hit $100 a barrel.
But the dominating themes of Bush's trip, which ends on Wednesday after his Egyptian stop, were Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and US tensions with Iran. Last week Bush made his first presidential visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank and said he expected the two sides to sign a peace treaty before he left office in January 2009.
He tried to rally Arab support for peacemaking efforts, including reaching out to Israel, during his visit to Gulf allies including Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia, considered a linchpin in any broader Israeli-Arab reconciliation, criticised Israel for settlement expansion and suggested it had no immediate plans to take any significant new steps toward Israel.
Arab League offer
An Arab League summit last March reiterated a 2002 offer of peace with Israel if it returned occupied land. Bush has also been trying to shore up support against Iran, and he told allies that he still considered Tehran a threat despite a US National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.
Analysts say that while Washington's Arab allies are wary of Iran's growing influence in the region, they do not want to see a US military confrontation with Tehran. "Iran is a neighbouring country and important in the region. Naturally, we have nothing bad towards Iran," the Saudi foreign minister said. "We hope that Iran also responds to the international legitimacy requirements."
Rice, who is travelling with Bush, was asked whether the president broached the topic of human rights with the king. "The president is interested in and concerned for the course of reform in the entire Middle East, and as he said, most especially with our friends," she said. In Egypt, the last stop on Bush's trip, the government has come in for criticism from human rights groups which accuse it of permitting the use of torture.
The US State Department cited Egypt in an annual report published last March as one of several countries where observance of human rights had deteriorated in 2006 and said violations there included "severe" cases of torture. - Reuters
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