First lady Laura Bush said she was offended by the recent "assault" on her husband, who had two shoes thrown at him during a recent visit to Iraq. At the same time, however, she said the assault shows that Iraqis feel a lot freer than they did before.
"I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there the man wouldn't have been released, and he probably would've been executed," she said of the Iraqi journalist, who was arrested following the Dec. 14 incident and has been in custody since.
Laura Bush noted that President Bush is a "natural athlete" as demonstrated by his ability to dodge the shoes.
Bush, who appeared in an interview taped for "FOX News Sunday," said she never thought she would personally have the power to spotlight her favorite issues until after Sept. 11, 2001, when she began discussing the plight of women in Afghanistan.
The first lady said she understood about her influence after her first address on women in Afghanistan, when she was walking by a cosmetics counter in a department store.
"They -- and I think this really speaks for American women in general -- had a real feeling for the women in Afghanistan. ... The idea of a government that would forbid half of their population from being educated was so shocking," the first lady said.
Bush said she worries about the return to the "days of the burqa," which at least at this point is a choice for women in Afghanistan rather than a requirement. But she said many choose the option of donning the full body covering because they are afraid of removing it.
That is a worry. And I met with a group of parliamentarians, women parliamentarians from Afghanistan last January or so. And they said they were afraid that this is their only chance. And if they can't make it now, then they just don't know if they ever would be able to," she said.
"Afghanistan and Iraq. Both have the opportunity if they can seize the moment to build real democracy, where the rights of every person in those countries is respected. It's very, very important for the people of these countries to stand up and take this opportunity to build their countries," she said.
The first lady also lamented the reporting on Hurricane Katrina, which she described as "not factual." Bush said the Coast Guard did a fantastic job pulling people off their roofs, and that a lot of people got the misimpression that 10,000 New Orleans residents died in the aftermath of the 2005 storm that flooded the city. An estimated 1,800 people died in the storm and the flood.
Mrs. Bush said that her husband's "inner core and his belief in freedom, and that means not just freedom from tyranny, but freedom from disease and freedom from illiteracy" is the untold story of her husband's presidency.
Bush said in a recent visit from incoming first lady Michelle Obama, the two discussed closet space, and the Obama girls got to decide which rooms they wanted.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Four months ago, the people of the Pakistani mountain village of Shalbandi gained national repute after a village posse hunted down and killed six Taliban fighters who had tied up and killed eight local policemen. The posse displayed the Taliban corpses like trophies for other residents to see, and the village was celebrated as a courageous sign that the Taliban could be repelled.
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The New York Times
A suicide car bomb exploded at a school in Shalbandi.
Related
As Taliban Overwhelm Police, Pakistanis Hit Back (November 2, 2008)
On Sunday morning, the Taliban struck back.
A suicide car bomber set off an explosion at a school in Shalbandi that was serving as a polling place, as voters lined up to elect a representative to the National Assembly. More than 30 people were killed and more than two dozen wounded, according to local political and security officials. Children and several policemen were among the dead.
The attack was the latest demonstration of the Taliban’s bloody encroachment eastward and deeper into Pakistan from the lawless tribal areas on the western border. Shalbandi is less than 100 miles northwest of Islamabad, the capital, and lies just south of the lush Swat Valley, a onetime ski resort known as the “Switzerland of Pakistan” that has been largely taken over by the Taliban despite large-scale army operations.
In the frenzied aftermath of the car bombing, survivors and witnesses offered conflicting accounts of the attack, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister for the North-West Frontier Province, where Shalbandi is located.
In one version, he said, the bomber sped his car toward the school but plowed into adjacent shops. The explosion was so large that it destroyed part of the school and killed many people waiting to vote. In the other version, he said, the killer parked near the school and told people he was having car trouble. As people gathered, he detonated the bomb inside.
“He pretended his car was not working, then he asked for help, people came and tried to push it, and then it blew up,” Mr. Hussain said. It was not clear which account was more accurate.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack as retribution for the deaths of six fighters, according to a Pakistani news channel.
As of Sunday, the outbreak had killed 1,564 people, and 29,131 cases had been reported, Gregory Hartl told CNN. These figures represent increases from numbers released Thursday that showed 1,518 deaths and 26,497 cases.
The World Health Organization says the outbreak has affected all of the country's 10 provinces and has spread to neighboring South Africa. It is "closely linked to the lack of safe drinking water, poor sanitation, declining health infrastructure and reduced numbers of health care staff reporting to work."
The organization also says factors "include the commencement of the rainy season and the movement of people within the country, and possibly across borders, during the Christmas season."
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Health experts have warned that the water-borne disease could infect more than 60,000 people unless its spread is halted.
Long wracked by political and economic turmoil, Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic and humanitarian crisis since its independence from Great Britain 28 years ago. There is an acute shortage of all essentials such as cash, fuel, medical drugs, electricity and food.
President Robert Mugabe blames the crisis on sanctions imposed by the West on grounds that he is disregarding human rights. But Mugabe's critics attribute the crisis to his economic policies.
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The charity Save the Children recently issued a report saying some of Zimbabwe's children are "wasting away" amid the turmoil.
