Bush Sends Baker to Mideast, Hints at New Plan : Diplomacy: President says the U.S. should use its credibility in the region as a catalyst for peace.

Saying that he feels “passionately” about the need to bring peace to the Middle East, President Bush dispatched his secretary of state to the region Saturday and hinted at a “comprehensive, overall plan” in the works.

The Administration so far has shied away from offering its own plan for Middle East peace, preferring the lower-profile role of urging Israel and its Arab neighbors to offer their own ideas.

But in a press conference here with Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Bush said that the United States does “have this credibility” now in the region and that “I want to see us use that in order to be the catalyst for peace.”

Bush also used the press conference to compliment Iranian officials for recent statements he termed “moderate.” But he repeated his stand that any improvement in relations with Tehran depends on Iranian action to win release of American hostages now held in Lebanon.

Defending the Administration’s cautious approach to the Middle East peace process, Bush remarked that “you’ve got to crawl before you walk.” But, he added, the region now has a “window of opportunity” and “I don’t want to waste it.”

“I don’t want to have so much time go by that everything gets back to the status quo ante and despair sets in,” Bush said.

Administration officials have been debating how deeply Bush should get involved in the risky, perhaps futile, effort to bring Israel and the Arab countries to the negotiating table. Bush’s comments are a clear indication that he has sided with those who counsel an intensive U.S. effort.

Baker said that “we owe it to ourselves” and “to the world” to try to bring about an end to the state of war in the region. “We’re not going to be able to deal with it if we’re not willing to actively engage in work,” he said.

In what may have been a veiled hint to Israel, Baker added that “if we can’t get anywhere, then we’ll just have to fall back and look at other options and other approaches.”

The Administration has been the chief force supporting Israel in holding off an international peace conference on the Middle East, an idea that Israel opposes. U.S. officials have been trying to signal the Israelis that a peace conference might be the only alternative if they do not offer some sort of compromise to get peace negotiations started.

Bush said that he remains eager to travel to the Middle East but that any trip by him will depend on the response Baker receives on his current mission.

Baker is scheduled to arrive today in Ankara, Turkey, to begin a weeklong tour, his second within a month. After visiting the Turkish-Iraqi border to assess refugee problems, Baker plans to go to Israel, Egypt, Syria and Geneva, where he plans to meet with Jordan’s foreign minister for the first high-level contact between the United States and the Amman government since it sided with Iraq during the Gulf War. Baker is also scheduled to meet with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, whom he plans to see in Cairo.

Before leaving, Baker met here with Bush for about 1 1/2 hours to discuss plans for the trip.

Bush’s advisers have been virtually unanimous in suggesting that the time is not yet ripe for a presidential trip to the Middle East, Administration officials say. But the President has been equally insistent that he wants to make such a trip as soon as possible.

“I’ve wanted to go for a long time,” Bush said, noting that he originally “wanted to go early on simply to salute the troops” at the end of the war.

Now, he said, “as time goes by, that becomes less of a reason” but “I’m anxious to do it.”

A White House official said Baker’s current trip is, in part, an effort by Bush’s advisers to stave off a presidential visit.

Regarding Iran, Bush said he is hopeful of better relations. Iranian action to gain release of the hostages, held by Muslim radicals with ties to Tehran, “would incur enormous goodwill for Iran in this country--enormous,” Bush said.