Given the chance to cover the 2003 invasion of Iraq from Baghdad, a city he knew well, he turned it down. Nonetheless, Bowen subsequently returned to the field in March 2003, as special correspondent, during which time he covered the death of Pope John Paul II. He became the BBC's first Middle East Editor when the position was created in June 2005 after the 2004 Balen Report on the BBC's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to provide a broader perspective on wider Middle East issues and to add context to the reporting of events on the ground.