Second appearance for the former president

When Former President George H.W. Bush visits Tufts to deliver the Issam M. Fares Lecture, it will not be his first visit _ or his first Fares lecture.

On Feb. 26, Bush will give a speech entitled "Perspectives on the Middle East" _ nine years after he delivered a lecture, "Retrospective on the Gulf War and Its Impact," which dealt with American presence in the region during Operation Desert Storm. But for a considerable portion of his speech, Bush praised Fares' investment efforts in the US and Europe and Fares' social work in his home country of Lebanon.

Bush's return engagement highlights the amicable relationship between the pair. During one visit to the Persian Gulf, Bush flew on Fare's private jet, according to the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, a publication co-sponsored by the Middle East Forum. Fares also donated $100,000 to George W. Bush's Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Siobhan Houton, Tufts' assistant director of public relations, declined to comment on Bush's return appearance. Despite already giving a Fares lecture, Bush's prior appearance in the series was not acknowledged in the mass e-mail sent out by the office of the President that announced the engagement.

The lecture series is funded by an endowment from the Fares Foundation. Fares I. Fares (LA '93), a member of Tufts' International Board of Overseers and the Board of Overseers for Arts & Sciences, created the series in honor of his father Issam M. Fares. The elder Fares is the Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon and a trustee emeritus of the University.

The lecture series focuses on public policy and the Middle East. The two-part program consists of bringing in a prominent public figure once a year, to talk about issues concerning the eastern Mediterranean; the second part brings in "high-caliber" scholars to discuss the region.

University officials declined to disclose how much Bush will be paid for his lecture.

The lecture series attracted national attention when it was revealed that the 2000 speaker, Colin Powell, received $59,500 for a lecture given a week before the Presidential election _ when many pundits assumed that he would be appointed Secretary of State given a Republican victory.

Fares dismissed the criticism. "The Zionist lobby in the US and its agents in the region felt displeasure and concern that certain Lebanese and Arab personalities have a friendly relationship with some senior officials of the new American administration," he told the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin.

Last year's speaker was Bill Clinton, who spoke about development's potential to thwart terrorism. Other past speakers include Margaret Thatcher, James Baker, George Mitchell and former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.