THE PRESIDENT HEADS TO JORDAN FOR MYSTERIOUS REASON

As the situation in Lebanon worsens, President Bush will go to Jordan next week to supposedly discuss speeding up the transfer of security responsibilities to the Iraqis—although his real motives are in question. One theory is that he is trying to reassert U.S. influence in the region and to prove that he hasn't lost control of the situation in Iraq to neighboring Syria and Iran. But a White House aide overheard the President telling National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley, that he was going to Jordan because he likes their pastel, candy-coated almonds and wants to get some fresh off the tree.