After upgrading from 5.2 to 6.0 I encountered this very
annoying problem.  At console, Alt-b is backward word.  In
an Xterm, it inserts itself.  Creating a .inputrc containing

set convert-meta On

does not cause subsequent xterms to behave properly.  nxterm
exhibits the same problem.  ESC-b behaves properly in all
settings.

 frop:11 $ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash
 frop:12 $ echo $BASH_VERSION
1.14.7(1)
 frop:13 $ rpm -q bash
bash-1.14.7-16
 frop:16 $ rpm -q -f /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm
XFree86-3.3.3.1-49