Bush looks lost in dealing with Mideast

The Bush administration's frustration in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was typified last weekend when Vice President Dick Cheney was ready to sit down with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

Cheney had returned to Washington from his 10-day, 11-nation swing through the Mideast. But Cheney aides were secretly positioned in Israel to make the meeting a reality. Advance men back in the United States were on alert, ready to fly back to Israel on a moment's notice. All that was needed was Arafat saying the right word.

He didn't. Four days later, on Thursday, the Palestinian leader came pretty close to advocating an unconditional cease-fire in language demanded by Washington. It was too late. Last Saturday afternoon, the Cheney aides in the Mideast were sent home, and those back home were taken off alert.

A few days later, the situation deteriorated, with additional Palestinian suicide bombings and an Israeli military assault on Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. The United States was reduced to being an interested but inactive observer.

President Bush has continued to look inept in trying to cope with the Mideast. As masterful as Bush has been since Sept. 11 in leading the nation and a global coalition against terrorism, he has seemed lost in coping with the Palestine question. No predecessor in the White House has faltered as badly as Bush.