Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt returned from Israel Wednesday, and the state's chief executive officer said he is a changed man and a better governor because of time spent in the Holy Land.
He went to Jerusalem's Wailing Wall; he wept with a group of Jewish visitors at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. He dined at home with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and spent what he called a "fascinating" day in a helicopter with legendary war hero and Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon.All the while, Leavitt and three other Republican governors, including Texas Gov. George P. Bush, were surrounded by troops with machine guns.
A visibly tired and emotional Leavitt said after returning to the Utah State Capitol late Wednesday he doesn't know whether Bush will run for president in 2000.
Leavitt took the trip sponsored by the National Jewish Coalition not to hobnob with Bush but to see the security zones that have dominated world headlines for so long; to see the area called the West Bank where some 160,000 Israeli settlers have planted themselves next to 1.5 million Palestinians; to better understand the complexity of a country with 11 political parties and no national constitution.
He didn't want to talk much about Bush, although Leavitt is fairly certain the popular Texas governor and son of former President George Bush hasn't made up his mind whether to run.
Nobody talked much about American politics during the three-day tour. Not about Bush, not about Leavitt's prospects concerning a possible spot as the Republican vice presidential nominee. "It would be a mistake to read anything into that," Leavitt said in response to suggestions he took the trip to lobby a vice presidential offering from Bush.
"There's a better chance that I'll be playing point guard for the Jazz" he joked later.
Openly emotional about some parts of his first visit to Israel, the well-traveled Leavitt said the Israelis he met are an industrious, happy people who are experimenting with democracy.
Americans underestimate the value of a safe society, Leavitt told reporters shortly after 22 hours of return travel. He said he saw children on school tours -- just like Utah kids would take -- but the school buses also carried soldiers with machine guns to protect the children.
He saw the Hard Rock Cafe that was blown up by terrorists three weeks ago. He flew over burned-out trucks and bunkers that are sober reminders of the Six-Day War fought there.
After a helicopter tour and military briefing from Sharon, the group touched down Tuesday at the Maale Efraim settlement to drop off Sharon and his Uzi-carrying bodyguards. This infuriated Palestinian officials, who charge the expansion of the West Bank settlements is undermining the peace process, according to news wire reports. Still, Leavitt said he never felt unsafe.
With Bush, and Govs. Marc Racicot of Montana and Paul Cellucci of Massachusetts, Leavitt visited religious sites, the chambers of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) and met with ministers of defense, tourism, trade and industry. And in one of the world's richest historic sites, they heard stories about decades of efforts toward peace.
"You cannot sit at the knee of five or six great statesmen and not come away with a sense of principle that is deepened and broadened," Leavitt said.
Bush generated media attention at every turn and red-carpet access for the group. But Leavitt told reporters on his return that he didn't go to the Middle East to hang on Bush's coattails or ponder his colleague's presidential aspirations.
"I had never been there before. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," he said. "I came back a better governor than I went."