Administration Steps Into Middle East Crisis
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: As we said, the Bush administration is wading very warily into the crisis, and one of the keys to the U.S. push announced yesterday by President Bush is the trip next week by Secretary of State Colin Powell. CNN's Kelly Wallace joins us now from Crawford, Texas, where Mr. Bush has returned to his ranch -- Kelly.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Carol. Well, certainly Mr. Bush at this ranch on this day clearly, of course, monitoring reaction, as Jerrold was noting, to his statement yesterday. Of course, you do have the Israeli offensive in those Palestinian areas continuing and even widening, and when one U.S. official we asked about that, about U.S. response to that, basically the reaction from the administration, the U.S. wants to see those troops withdraw as soon as possible. The message from Mr. Bush is that he expects results. The other side, Carol, what we are seeing is a strategy really developing that Secretary of State Powell, you know, his stops have not been announced yet, but he definitely going to be meeting Arab leaders, likely to meet with King Abdullah of Jordan, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, as well as Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The message really we are hearing from officials privately, stressing this sort of pressure on the Arab countries, the Arab allies, that they need to put more pressure on the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, that they need to do more to control these suicide bombings and stop terror. So look for that to be another strategy by Secretary Powell during his trip next week -- Carol.</s>LIN: Kelly, is the clock ticking with the Bush administration when it comes to Yasser Arafat and any action he needs to take on his part?</s>WALLACE: Well, it does appear that way. If you look at what President Bush said yesterday, very, very tough talk, maybe the strongest words, harshest words to date, basically saying that the siege that Yasser Arafat is encountering now really of his own doing, of his own making. That he is not doing enough, really his efforts in Mr. Bush's words have been a failure. And what we also heard from a senior administration official intimately involved in the discussions behind the scenes and Secretary Powell's trip next week is that Secretary Powell plans to meet with other leaders of the Palestinian Authority. So clearly, we are seeing this administration trying to reach out to other leaders within the Palestinian community, making the case, A, that Mr. Arafat has a lot to do, and if he doesn't do it, that this administration and also the Arab leaders should be engaging with other leaders to say, look, if you want to get a Palestinian state, if you want to end the violence and have a vision for peace in the region, perhaps there are other leaders that the world community will start working with -- Carol.</s>LIN: Well, speaking of world community, part of that community is coming to President Bush this weekend. He is hosting British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This whole crisis in the Middle East has got to dominate their trip there at the Crawford this weekend.</s>WALLACE: It certainly will, Carol. You know, this was scheduled weeks ago definitely in advance of the crisis in the Middle East. The two leaders obviously enjoying a very close relationship, meeting together at the White House in November. They were supposed to be getting together for some relaxation, but also to discuss serious issues, the war on terror, also what to do about Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but now, the Middle East definitely likely to dominate the agenda. U.S. officials saying Mr. Bush wants to hear Prime Minister Blair's ideas about what to do in the Middle East. He has traveled extensively through the region and clearly it's a windy day here in Crawford, Carol, and they will definitely work together on the game plan that Secretary Powell will take to the region next week -- back to you.</s>LIN: Well, you are you handling the wind and politics very well today, Kelly, so much.</s>WALLACE: Well, thank you -- you are very kind.</s>LIN: Live from Crawford, a very windy day there -- Kelly Wallace, thanks so much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com