Reply #31: Yes she is ready! VOA: "Laura Bush is taking an increasingly public role on foreign policy matters."

[ClarkUSA]

First Lady Laura Bush is taking an increasingly public role on foreign policy matters - from the status of women in the Middle East,
to repression in Burma. VOA White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson reports Mrs. Bush focused on these issues in a nationally
broadcast interview Sunday on American television... Last week, she was in the Middle East raising a sensitive subject for many
Arab women - breast cancer... During an appearance on Fox News Sunday program, Mrs. Bush acknowledged that part of the
reason for her trip was to help improve America's image in the Arab world by highlighting concern for women's health... The first
lady said she has come to realize that her role as the wife of the President of the United States gives her a platform to speak out
when she thinks she can make a difference. That has been particularly true when it comes to Burma.

In a VOA interview last month, she voiced support for the pro-democracy movement and urged Burmese soldiers to refrain from
violence against those seeking freedom.

She told FOX News Sunday that she has long been inspired by the leader of the Burmese opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, noting she
is the only Nobel Peace Prize winner living under house arrest... During the televised interview, Mrs. Bush was also asked about
domestic political issues...

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-10/2007-10-28-voa11.cfm?CFID=246510059&CFTOKEN=55553131

Advancing Women's Human Rights a Policy Priority, Laura Bush Says

President Bush has made the advancement of women's human rights a “global policy priority” and the United States stands with
those seeking equality, says first lady Laura Bush...The first lady said that repressive societies limit their own potential to improve
the lives of their own people by limiting the rights of women, and she said the Bush administration stands with the world in
protesting the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma. She added that women in China and Cuba still cannot freely express
their political or religious beliefs, and that the degrading practice of human trafficking continues to enslave women throughout
the world. She noted that the United States is advancing a resolution opposing human trafficking at the U.N. Commission on the
Status of Women, currently meeting in New York.

http://usinfo.state.gov/dhr/Archive/2005/Mar/08-835440.html

Laura Bush calls for democracy in Myanmar

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US First Lady Laura Bush on Monday called on Myanmar's military rulers to free democracy icon Aung San
Suu Kyi and urged the country's neighbors to pile pressure on the regime for political freedoms... Surrounded by some of US
President George W. Bush's top foreign policy advisers for Asia, Laura Bush said junta leader Than Shwe had offered "only token
gestures" of reform in the face of a tightening international squeeze.

"If he and the generals are serious, they should give Aung San Suu Kyi unlimited access to the diplomatic community and other
members of the Burmese opposition," she said. Washington refers to the country as Burma.

"She and other political leaders should be released immediately and unconditionally so they can plan a strategy for Burma's
peaceful transition to democracy," said Laura Bush.

She was speaking to the founder of a clinic in Thailand that provides to people fleeing from Myanmar in a videoconference call
marking International Human Rights Day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071210/pl_afp/usmyanmarpolitics_071210154829

Wow, I'd say Laura Bush has plenty of foreign policy "experience," -- more than enough to be president! All she has to do is put
"First Lady" on that resumé and fire up those presidential coattails for a ride!