Moving On Up, to Brussels

He says he spends "quite a bit of time" with Bush on the issues in his portfolio, and notes the president stopped by to say hi to his three young daughters, who were visiting on Take Your Daughter to Work Day last week. "He sat down, told them they were beautiful and lit them up," he said. "They floated out."

Khalilzad, the Running Man?

In Washington last week to speak at the German Marshall Fund, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad did not sound exactly Shermanesque in knocking down the persistent rumor that he is interested in running for president of his native Afghanistan next year. Khalilzad, a former White House aide who has held some of the toughest and most sensitive diplomatic posts during the Bush administration, laughed when a questioner asked what it would take to get him to launch his candidacy.

"I have not come here to collect money for my campaign," Khalilzad joked before adding: "I have said repeatedly -- I find this a little surprising that this persists -- that I am not a candidate, I am not planning to be a candidate, whichever way I have to say this, for the president of Afghanistan."

"Zal," as he is known to his friends, said he has a "different trajectory" for his life, and the next step will be working in the private sector, where he expects to be helping Afghanistan and Iraq.

Israel Trip Taking Shape

The schedule is coming into focus for President Bush's second trip to the Middle East this year: He is planning to visit Israel next month to celebrate the country's 60th anniversary. While in Israel, Bush appears likely to visit Masada, the desert fortress overlooking the Dead Sea where nearly 1,000 Jews committed suicide in the 1st century rather than be taken alive by the Romans.

He is also planning a speech to the Israeli Knesset, and will attend a giant celebratory conference being hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres that is expected to feature such notables as Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev and Henry Kissinger. But Barbra Streisand, the liberal singing and acting icon who had been tapped to sing the Jewish prayer "Avinu Malkeinu" (Our Father Our King), abruptly pulled out last week for "personal obligations." Was Babs unhappy about the prospect of sharing the bill with Bush? We will never know.

Bush also plans to meet the other parties in the long-standing Arab-Israeli dispute, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a session at Sharm el-Sheikh. He also plans a stop in Saudi Arabia to meet King Abdullah.

Abbas does not appear to be in a positive frame of mind about the U.S. efforts to help broker an agreement before the end of Bush's term, as judged by his comments before leaving Washington last week after meeting with the president. "So far nothing has been achieved," Abbas told the Associated Press.

Coming Up Short

During a stop Friday at the Boys and Girls Club in Hartford, Conn., to commemorate World Malaria Day, the children told Bush that they were raising money to fight malaria in the developing world. The head of the most powerful nation in the world, however, found himself light in the wallet. "I'm running short of cash," Bush said a bit sheepishly, then turned to the cameras with a grin: "Congress controls the purse strings." Bush's malaria coordinator, retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Ziemer, came to the rescue, plopping what appeared to be a pair of twenties into a collection basket.