Upper-class and royal Saudi women enjoy wearing Western styles when they travel and wear the abaya when they're at home. Would they -- or their less privileged countrywomen -- prefer to toss their black robes aside completely? Who knows? But of this much we can be certain: If Saudi women do decide to chuck their abayas, it won't be because Americans think they should.

That said, reform is in the air, thanks in part to these woman-to-woman encounters, and whatever changes eventually evolve will be helped by respectful exchanges such as those led by the first lady.

Other criticism of Bush's visit, meanwhile, has focused on her concentration only on breast cancer and not other women's issues.

First of all, the trip was specifically about the U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research. Second, you don't win people's confidence by offending them. Finally, breast cancer in the Middle East is a woman's political issue.

Making breast cancer the centerpiece of what was fundamentally a diplomatic mission was frankly a savvy and calculated move. Whatever their flaws, Saudi men -- like their American counterparts -- do not want their wives, sisters, mothers and daughters to die of cancer. One thing leads to another and a woman's right to insist on health care to combat a deadly disease cannot be dismissed from broader rights and reforms.

In fact, breast cancer wasn't the only piece of Bush's mission. In Kuwait, four high school students participating in the U.S. State Department's English Access Microscholarships Program, part of the larger Middle East Partnership Initiative, spoke passionately about their experiences studying English, American culture and democratic principles.

The aim of the initiative, now in more than a dozen Arab countries, is to foster leadership development, economic growth, cultural understanding and women's empowerment. The Kuwaiti students, including two teenage girls, mentioned their newly gained sense of freedom and their hopes for a democratic future that sounded remarkably American.

If that's not successful diplomacy, I don't know what is.