[Blitzer:] In the midst of the crisis here in the Middle East, President Bush will host the British prime minister, Tony Blair, at the White House tomorrow. It's yet another challenge for two allies who have endured war and controversy on their watches. Let's bring in our White House correspondent Elaine Quijano Elaine.
[Elaine Quijano, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Wolf, the visit by Prime Minister Blair was scheduled well before this latest Middle East crisis broke out. But now, of course, plotting Mideast strategy will be the central focus, with both leaders under pressure to change their approach.
[Quijano:] When they last met, President Bush's frank and off-color assessment to British Prime Minister Tony Blair dominated the news and showed the president's frustration with the diplomatic effort.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] I felt like telling Kofi to call get on the phone with Mr. Assad and make something happen.
[Quijano:] But that was 10 days ago. Since then, the fighting has not stopped. And the civilian death toll continues to climb. Against that backdrop, President Bush is set to welcome Blair, his staunchest ally in the war on terror, to the White House. Both the president and the prime minister are facing intense pressure from European allies to support an immediate cease-fire.
[Wendy Sherman, Former State Department Adviser:] Europe and the United States are not on the same path. And we will see if Tony Blair is going to stick with Europe or stick with the United States.
[Quijano:] So far, the Bush administration has not budged, with the president restating that peace and a cease-fire are not the same thing. At an Oval Office meeting with Rumania's president, Mr. Bush laid out his Mideast goal.
[Bush:] To hopefully end this as quickly as possible, and, at the same time, making sure there's a lasting peace, not a fake piece, not a fake, you know, circumstances that make us all feel better. Then, sure enough, the problem arises again.
[Quijano:] With the secretary of state expected to return to the Middle East this weekend, the White House is forcefully rejecting any notion her earlier trip there was a failure.
[Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary:] You are laboring under the presumption that she was supposed to come up with a magic wand and say, a cease-fire. What she has said is, what on earth is the good of having another empty handed cease-fire in the Middle East?
[Quijano:] Now, today, President Bush engaged in some telephone diplomacy, speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the second time this week. Tomorrow, Mr. Bush will sit down with Prime Minister Blair in the Oval Office, before the two leaders appear before reporters in the East Room Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Elaine, thank you. President Bush's ambassador to the United Nations is today defending the job he has been doing. John Bolton went before a Senate committee for a second round of confirmation hearings. Mr. Bush used a recess appointment to send Bolton to the U.N., after Democrats blocked his nomination last year. The appointment expires in January, unless the Senate votes for formally confirm him. Bolton told senators he has had made what he calls modest progress toward reforming the U.N. bureaucracy and in demanding a stronger response to North Korea's missile tests. But a key Democrat, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, charges that Bolton has burned his bridges with his colleagues at the United Nations. We will follow this story for you. Up next: your safety vs. your civil liberties should individual warrants be tossed out altogether when it comes to spying on Americans to protect against terrorism? We will tell you what you are telling Jack Cafferty. That is coming up. And I will speak with an Israeli brigadier general about the crisis here in the Middle East. Is Israel getting more than it bargained for in taking on Hezbollah in south Lebanon? That's coming up in our next hour, right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're are live from Jerusalem.