Politics Now

      Before leaving on what the White House billed as a week-long peace trip to the Middle East, President Bush threatened Iran with military action if Tehran authorizes any further swift boat "provocation" on American naval ships patrolling the Persian Gulf.

     Bush didn't use the term military, but warned Iran of serious consequences if these small Iranian naval craft interfere with our Navy. He based his remarks on early reports that Iranian forces made a radio threat against the U.S. ships. But two days later, the Pentagon said the threat may not have come from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats and may not even have been directed at our ships.

  Further, the Pentagon maintained the report that the Iranians threatened the U.S. Navy did not come from our Defense Department.

      Bush's visit to Israel and Palestinian territory left many confused because on one hand he spoke of some of the land settled by Israelis after the 1967 war as "occupied" territory, then hinted that the administration favors some form of land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians.

      "There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967," Bush told reporters. But then he said Palestinians should not expect Israel to give up all the territory it won 41 years ago. Further mixing the tone of the journey, the Bush administration is expected to announce it plans to sell $20 billion worth of high-precision missiles and other military equipment to the Saudi Arabian kingdom.

      The Associated Press said Friday the announcement is timed to coincide with Bush's arrival in the kingdom on Monday. Nothing was said about his trying to talk the Saudis into increasing crude oil shipments to bring down the price of gasoline.

     Some observers wonder why Bush chose this time to make such a trip, wondering why he would not instead devote himself to preparing his last State of the Union message, his final budget message, and meeting with Treasury officials and the financial community to try to ease some of the anxiety over possible recession, and roiling anxieties over credit on Wall Street.

      The confusion over the "attack" of the Iranian swiftboats--reminiscent of President Johnson's exploitation of a 1964 false report of a North Vietnamese attack on a U.S. fighting ship leading to the escalation of the Vietnam War, is compounded by the recent National Intelligence Estimate of the likelihood that Iran is creating a nuclear bomb.

     The intelligence community said Iran halted its N-weapons program in 2003, underscoring differences the U.S. and the United Kingdom have over policies on Iran. Other stops on this tour include Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Dubai. He returns to Washington late Monday.

       Was this trip necessary?

          --Douglas Turner