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Good morning Riyadh

The White House press corps touched down in Saudi Arabia just before 10 a.m. local, which was 2 a.m. back on the east coast.President Bush just touched down in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. He will spend less than five hours there before heading to Riyadh himself--only a pool of seven reporters and six camera crew are accompanying him to Dubai. One detail to clue you in on the environment here in Saudi Arabia -- the civilian flight crew on the United Airlines plane carrying the press corps has been told that its female members should not leave their hotel rooms for the two days they are here.Embassy personnel, who are not allowed to drive their own vehicles in part due to security concerns, are stationed here for only a year at a time, because of the "psychological toll" of living in Saudi Arabia, said a foreign service source. One other detail of interest: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is still here -- he leaves for Quatar in a few hours. -- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

Monday morning quarterbacking on Bush's speech

The White House said President Bush's speech yesterday in Abu Dhabi was the centerpiece address of his six-country, eight-day trip through the Middle East.So, having dispatched with the news of the speech, which related mostly to Iran, I thought I'd take a look at reaction to the speech.My own impression was that the president was not as animated as he usually is when talking about the war against terrorism and his freedom agenda. He often raises his voice a notch and gestures strongly when talking about "the ideological struggle of our time," as he puts it.Mr. Bush spoke inside an enormous auditorium, the Palace Conference Center, at the $3 billion Emirates Palace Hotel. One thought I had was that Mr. Bush, who thrives on crowd interaction, may have felt like his voice and his presence was being swallowed up by the huge space. Apparently, singer Justin Timberlake didn't have any problems when he performed here last month.The consensus among my colleagues in the press corp was pretty uniform: the speech was mediocre to terrible. Some faulted the speechwriting, others the delivery, others the substance.I am no speechwriting expert, but the speech did seem to hop and skip from topic to topic, even if everything fell under the broad umbrella of democracy and freedom in the Middle East. That made it hard to follow, and also sapped the speech of a central thrust. Enough punditry though. My colleague John McKinnon of the Wall Street Journal labeled the speech "cautious," which is a good way to look at it. The president's immediate audience was the UAE aristocracy, and he couldn't call too plainly for government accountability in a region where strong men rule. In addition, Mr. Bush must tread carefully when talking about Iran, which is the neighbor to the east of the Gulf States--these smaller countries cannot simply thumb their noses at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Lastly, a note about the Emirates Palace hotel. I was in the president's motorcade when he arrived at the massive structure, and as we rolled down a wide avenue toward the hotel, we could see the front end of the motorcade going up a long ramp to the hotel's top level, which was a sight to take your breath away.Steve Pike, the US embassy spokesman, said the hotel is one kilometer end to end, and has a white sand beach imported from Algeria. I saw the beach, however, and the sand looked kind of average. Here are some pictures of the hotel, taken from the road:-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

Bush touches down in freezing Riyadh

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Air Force one touched down around 4:25 p.m. local time (8:25 Eastern time), and about 10 minutes later, President Bush descended the steps to greet Saudi King Abdullah.This might be the desert, but it was absolutely freezing cold at the airport. Several people have actually told me that they could get snow tomorrow, which would be the first time in a long time, just like Bagdhad last week.The two leaders walked to a reviewing stand and looked over an honor guard about 200 strong, while the military band played the US and then Saudi national anthems. After greeting numerous officials and dignitaries inside the airfield terminal, Mr. Bush and his motorcade then left Riyadh-King Khaled International Airport and headed to his hotel. Mr. Bush will go to a dinner at the king's palace at 8:15 p.m. here, which is 12:15 back home, and then meet with King Abdullah formally after dinner.Mr. Bush and King Abdullah have a lot of time scheduled together - Mr. Bush is spending all day tomorrow here. He'll do several events during the day, ending with a tour of the king's Al Janadriyah horse ranch, and then a second dinner.On Wednesday, Mr. Bush leaves for a short visit to Egypt, and will return to Washington that night.-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

Video: Cowboy fan says, "Leave Tony Romo alone!"

Few things warm the heart of a Redskins fan more than the sight of a Cowboys fan crying:Hat tip: Ace of Spades.-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times

No ads for "Hillary: The Movie" premiere

When liberals like Michael Moore and Al Gore make documentaries, they're on Leno, Letterman, Oprah, "60 Minutes," etc., and the premieres are red-carpet affairs at Hollywood, Sundance, Cannes, etc.The Washington DC premiere of "Hillary: The Movie" is at a multiplex in Georgetown, and they're not even allowed to advertise:A legal battle over advertisements for a new documentary about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton illustrates the folly of current campaign-finance laws, says the attorney for the producers of the film, which premieres tonight in Washington."Hillary: The Movie" is "a political documentary like Michael Moore or Al Gore has made," said James Bopp, who went to federal court last week to represent the movie's producers. Yet the conservative group Citizens United, which produced the Clinton film, must "go to court to get permission to advertise the film... because of McCain-Feingold," he said.Known by the names of its chief Senate sponsors, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat, the 2002 law that regulates campaign advertising could require the film's producers to disclose the names of their donors and to insert a disclaimer in ads for the movie. (MORE ...)Linked at Memeorandum and PajamasMedia, with blog comments from Hot Air, Reason, and JammieWearingFool, who says the new Hillary documentary may be the scariest horror film in years:-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times

Chop chop

I forgot to mention this: another slice of life in Saudi Arabia.From the Agence France Presse yesterday:Saudi Arabia beheads man for murderRIYADH (AFP) -- A Saudi man convicted of murder was beheaded by the sword on Monday in the northern city of Hail, the interior ministry said.Abdullah bin Mashari was executed for shooting dead Mansour al Kharir following an argument caused by "family differences", the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.It was the third execution announced in Saudi Arabia this year, after a record 153 people were put to death in 2007. That figure compared with 37 beheaded in 2006, and the previous record number of 113 executions in 2000.Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in the ultra-conservative Gulf country, where executions are usually carried out in public.-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

The Saudi blogosphere

My story on Saudi blogs, "Freedom agenda confronts Saudi reality," is up on the site this morning. I wanted to make sure there were links to the relevant blogs and a few other things.Ahmed al-Omran, who is leading an online movement to free imprisoned blogger Ahmed al-Farhan, blogs at saudijeans.org.Carol Fleming, a former US diplomat now married to a Saudi national, blogs at delhi4cats.wordpress.com, and has a fantastic blog roll on her page of other Saudi blogs.In addition, I found this post at Global Voices about Mr. al-Farhan very interesting. Mr. al-Farhan, the jailed Saudi blogger, appears to have said in 2005 that he hates President Bush (the grammar is a little confusing).You can also read an interesting interview of Mr. al-Farhan by Mr. al-Omran here.I certainly found this concept of Saudi blogs fascinating. Mrs. Fleming said she thinks blogs are "opening up new worlds and new dimensions to Saudi nationals.""I personally believe this new openness is facilitating reforms and with Saudi nationals becoming more expressive," she said.On another topic, I was asked to do an interview with Saudi state television last night. They originally told me it would only be a short interview of a few minutes, but they then walked me to a full blown set in our hotel, and promptly informed me that it would be only 10 to 15 minutes. It ended up being a 30-minute spot with no commercial breaks, which meant I was stuck there. But the interview ended up being both fun and a learning experience for me. Here's a picture of me and another guest on the show.And I can't resist putting in this picture of the Chicago Tribune's Mark Silva, sandwiched between Saudis and pecking away on his computer at a press conference here today with the Saudi oil minister.And here is a picture of the pretty impressive stage they set up for the press conference.-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

We are coming home

I asked some Middle East experts to grade President Bush's trip, and then I've got some pictures to close out this memorable trip.Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy was kind enough to provide actual grades for the president's trip.He gave Mr. Bush a B+ for the Israeli/Palestinian issue, and a B+ for his Gulf State diplomacy.Mr. Bush showed "lots of empathy for the Palestinians, which matters for Arab and European audiences," Mr. Clawson said, despite the lack of policy change."He actually raised oil with the Saudis, which was good to see, though he would have done better to emphasize that Saudi interests are not well-served when oil prices are so high that America decides to spend billions on alternative energy sources and on conservation," Mr. Clawson said. "[He] has found a way to express support for reform which does not frighten regimes or evoke cynicism from reformers. But he mostly stopped the erosion regarding Iran by showing that he still will press Iran on many fronts," Mr. Clawson said.Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the "most interesting part of the trip was the down time he scheduled with regional leaders.""Relaxing at home, he's in constant motion as he clears brush and rides mountain bikes, but in the Gulf he settled into leisurely meals and falcon hunting as he sought to build relationships with rulers. His past inclination was to refer to them as 'tyrants,' but now he referred to them as 'leaders,'" Mr. Alterman said. Mr. Alterman's CSIS colleague, Anthony Cordesman, said that while few believe that an Israeli-Palestinian peace is possible in 2008, the president took on the issue that does most to build Arab anger at the US, showed the US would reach out to the Palestinians, and established a legacy for continuing negotiations by the next Administration."He also showed how important the US feels the region is in an area where personal contact at the highest levels is absolutely critical to good relations. He did not abandon 'emocratization,' but he did focus focusing on good security and economic relations and made it clear that 'democratization' did not mean 'regime change,'" Mr. Cordesman said.Despite all the pessimism surrounding the president's trip, those are actually fairly positive assessments.Now for some final pics. When we arrived in Egypt this morning, there were guys standing guard out in the desert, and they stood there for several hours. All I can say to these guys is many thanks.Here's a picture of the president and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak striding to the mics.And they're literally rushing us to the buses as I post this: the coast at sunset. We didn't get to spend much time down on the Red Sea, but every moment was sweet. See you at home. - Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

Grading the Bush Middle East Trip

Before leaving Egypt, I e-mailed some experts on the region to ask them how they thought President Bush's trip came off.I was able to post a few responses before we boarded the White House press corps plane for the 13-hour flight home. We're now on the ground, and I've received a few more responses.David Mack, of the Middle East Institute, was the second guy to actually hand out marks. I love it. He graded the president tardy for his attendance, incomplete on containing Iran, and gave him an A for effort on the peace process "considering the steep odds against success," and a B for his democracy agenda."[He] should have done something like this in 2002 or at least 2003, after the road map speech, rather than assuming that all we had to do was overthrow Saddam and then everything else -- taming Iran, peace and security for Israel, security of oil and gas, democracy, etc -- would fall into place," Mr. Mack said.Mr. Mack's take on the democracy and freedom agenda was interesting. Steven Lee Myers piece in the New York Times today addresses Mr. Bush's praise for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in spite of Mr. Mubarak's long track record of crushing dissent and opposition.But Mr. Mack doesn't necessarily see hypocrisy there."I see signs that the Bush is getting a more nuanced and realistic notion of what constitutes democratic progress in these countries," Mr. Mack said, adding that perhaps the president is "redefining" democracy "to come closer to our strategic needs andthe realities of the region."Mr. Mack said the president's trip has "bolstered the moderate Arab states for now," but "how long that will last depends on his follow through, not just with security cooperation but with energetic promotion of an Israeli-Palestinian peace."Tom Lippman, a fellow Middle East Instituter, was far less impressed."I guess I would say he did as well as could be expected, given that I didn't expect anything. I was surprised he didn't go to meet with some troops in Iraq; he should have. I was disappointed at his pathetic attempts to jawbone the Saudis on oil prices -- he knows, or should know, that oil supply is not the problem and that any additional Saudi production would be high-sulfur heavy crude anyway and thus would do nothing for the gasoline market," Mr. Lippman said. "And he really ought to have said something in Egypt about [Egyptian opposition leader] Ayman Nour. Still, he didn't make things worse, and that's a blessing."Lastly, Jim Phillips of the Heritage Foundation was impressed with the president's main speech over the weekend in Abu Dhabi (most of the press were not)."I think the high point was his speech in the UAE on his vision of a freedom agenda for the Middle East. Many of the small gulf states have made significant progress in recent years on democratic reforms that have been overshadowed by news about the continuing conflict in Iraq, the rising power of Iran, and chronic Israeli-Palestinian tensions," Mr. Phillips said. - Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

A paparazzi prophecy

It's about time. As AP reports, "Four paparazzi have been arrested for reckless driving while chasing Britney Spears' car."Celebrities have been complaining about aggressive photographers for years now. I, like many other critics, haven't been particularly sympathetic to the stars. But after seeing paparazzi actually stop the ambulance carrying Britney Spears to the hospital last week, I had a wake-up call. It seems Los Angeles police had one, too. As I wrote in my On the Edge piece on Friday,after dealing with the paparazzi on a daily basis, some of these stars obviously figured out something we bystanders hadn't fully absorbed - these single-minded photographers are, quite simply, dangerous.Hello? Car chases are dangerous. That's why police departments - especially in densely populated cities and suburbs - have strict policies for officers governing when such chases are permissible.As superstars like George Clooney and Julia Roberts have tried to tell us recently, what's at stake here goes far beyond the privacy of a handful of pampered celebs. What's at stake is public safety: the safety of pedestrians out for a stroll in a residential zone, the safety of children being dropped off or picked up in school zones, the safety of the stars and, yes, the safety of the paparazzi themselves.Now it seems like it's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt - or even killed - by one of these highly paid stalkers.MarketWatch's Jon Friedman, writing a few days after me, made a similar point: "I'm beginning to envision a tragic conclusion to the whole Britney Spears media circus: The Hollywood paparazzi seem determined to hound her until she is dead." - Kelly Jane Torrance, arts and entertainment writer, The Washington Times