Laura Bush expresses hope for Middle East's future
Regional-USA, Politics, 5/21/2005

US First lady Laura Bush says she believes she speaks on behalf of American women "when I talk to women in the Muslim world, to say that we're standing with them."

In a May 19 interview with the Al Arabiya television network -- on the eve of her four-day trip to the Middle East -- Mrs. Bush said "I know that women everywhere, worldwide, mothers everywhere, want their children to be safe, they want their children to grow up free from fear, they want to have their children educated ... so that their children have opportunities."

The first lady previewed her speech to the World Economic Forum in Jordan on the first stop of her tour, which she said would be about "what women can do, how societies are dependent, really, on including women, that women make such a major contribution to every society as mothers and as wives, and as fully as political partners of their husbands."

Mrs. Bush expressed hope for of the future of the Middle East, for a day when there would be "a free Israel standing side by side with a free Palestine."

"Now I feel like we really have a chance, that we may slowly, slowly get there," she said. She noted that "we've watched the Central European countries as they built democracies after the collapse of the Soviet Union ... they can be examples to us."

When asked about the possible role of women in Middle Eastern reform efforts, the first lady drew upon the region's long history, noting, "We know the story of so many women from long ago who made a contribution to our world and to our world history ... as we look from America, as American women look, we want the women in the Middle East to also have the opportunity to contribute to their countries in a political way and in a constructive way. And so that's the message that I'll be taking."

The first lady laughed when she was reminded that when she first married the president, she told him she would do so as long as she never had to make a political speech. When asked if she now had been called upon to become more engaged in the administration's second term, she challenged that perception by recalling that she had given a presidential radio address in fall 2001, "after the terrorist attacks, to talk about the plight of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban."

"So ... I'm building on it now as I have this opportunity ... to visit this part of the world that's so important to the world, and so important to world history," Mrs. Bush added. She noted how much she looked forward to several of her stops, including "a chance to visit the Dome of the Rock, and Pyramids, and the beautiful new Alexandria Library ... each one of those have a history in our world that's very, very important."

Previous Stories:
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  Retraction of Quran desecration story, Guantanamo controversy continues   (5/17/2005)
  Desecration of the holy Quran by US soldiers is severely condemned   (5/16/2005)

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