As the long, strange trip that has been the Bush presidency begins to wind down, the president has begun to seek out what all who sit behind the desk in the Oval Office seek out. No, not sexual favors from willing interns, but a legacy, a capstone to the eight years of lies, misdirection and willful violation of the Constitution. With those goshdarned Iraqis still refusing our freedom and democracy and with the economy tanking faster than the Titanic, legacy-building options are pretty slim. Thank God for continual strife in the Middle East.

While both critics and supporters of Bush are hailing his eight-day romp through the Middle East as a move in the right direction, the consensus is that despite the good intentions, it is undoubtedly too little too late. While Bush talked on a wide variety of subjects, there were two issues which he didn’t hesitate to beat into the ground: Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While some progress has been made in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference, the two-state solution the administration is pushing like the best thing since sliced bread has been around in one form or another since 1937. While a resolution of the decades-old conflict between the two nations is, and should be, an important element of Bush’s Roadmap to Peace, the Roadmap itself has been stalled repeatedly. Bush spoke vehemently of his wishes to see progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but his words were just that – words. And while Bush mentioned several times during his trip what a “historic opportunity” was occurring, perhaps it wouldn’t be so historic if Bush had devoted more time to positive action in the Middle East as opposed to simply talking about the subject toward the tail end of his final term as president.

Bush also continued to beat the war drum regarding Iran, with his trip just happening to coincide with news from the White House that it plans to sell more than $20 billion in weapons and technology to U.S.-friendly countries in the Middle East, including $123 million worth of smart-bomb technology to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One of the stated purposes of what is being called the Gulf Security Dialogue is to put even more pressure on Iran and attempt to secure American oil interests in the Gulf.

The United States’ continued amiable relationship with the Kingdom is troubling for more than one reason. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists responsible for 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. Like Iran, Saudi Arabia has a constitution that cites Shari’a Law from the Koran as its highest law. Saudi Arabia has a dismal track record regarding human rights, and despite Washington’s open alliance with the Kingdom, there has been little to no pressure from the U.S. against the Saudis to allow for independent monitoring of human rights. Maybe this is because we get almost 20 percent of our oil from Saudi Arabia.

Bush’s Middle East trip proved one thing above all – he can still talk a good game. Despite his continued insistence that the U.S. is fully committed to helping nations and people realize their inherent right to be free, he continues to deal openly with countries who have shown no interest in allowing increased civil liberties.

The United States’ continued unwavering allegiance to Israel has further lessened our credibility in the Middle East, leading many Palestinians to openly question the impartiality of the United States. All things considered, the most successful leg of Bush’s journey was the multimillion-dollar arms deal, although Bush seemingly has no cognitive dissonance about speaking fervently about peace and freedom and then selling smart bombs to theocratic regimes that oppress and subjugate their citizens.

– Quincy Miller is a senior in English from Altoona.