Bush's Middle East Trip is Better Late than Never

January 8, 2008

President Bush embarks on a nine-day, six-country trip to the Middle East today, including the first trip to Israel of his presidency. Bush has ramped up diplomatic efforts in the region over the past year, and this trip is a good step toward making the kinds of key efforts that the Center for American Progress has been advocating. As the map and chart below show, travel for diplomatic efforts hasn’t always been this president’s trademark.

CAP recommended this increased diplomatic effort in the region in last year’s report “Strategic Reset.” As diplomacy goes, this trip is especially important if the president hopes to achieve progress on the political benchmarks for Iraq in 2008. All of Iraq’s neighbors have a stake in that country’s security.

A more realistic U.S. strategy in the Middle East will also help create a secure and stable region that better serves U.S. interests. The diplomatic effort that Bush is putting forward to address tensions between Israel and the Arab states in the region should also reflect positively on the United States.

Nevertheless, Bush and his secretaries of state have visited the region less frequently than either Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush did, yet somehow George W. still found the time to take 418 days of vacation, almost two and a half times as many as Clinton’s 152.

For more on the Center's Middle East policies, see:

• Strategic Reset
• Middle East Progress