First Ladies

Laura Bush: Remember Burma

Crackdown worsens over past two years.

It may be the one getting all of the media’s attention, but Iran isn’t the only country with a crackdown. Former first lady Laura Bush takes to the op-ed page of The Washington Post to draw attention to the worsening situation in Burma where, she writes, “In the past 21 months, the number of political prisoners incarcerated by the junta has doubled.” Two Burmese were recently jailed for praying for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and 3,000 villages have been “forcibly displaced.” She suggests a solution that might not make her husband happy: “The Security Council has already referred the crisis in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. It should do the same for Burma.”