She was also at the Cannes screening of Lars Von Trier's Manderlay. As per another thread.
Posted on 05/17/2005 11:13:54 AM PDT by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON - First lady Laura Bush will make a solo visit to the Middle East this week, aiming to spread a positive message about U.S. intentions in the region.
She will tour local landmarks and programs and will give a speech to the World Economic Forum in Jordan, the White House said Tuesday.
Mrs. Bush leaves Thursday night for the five-day trip to Jordan, Israel and Egypt. White House press secretary Scott McClellan called the trip "an opportunity for Mrs. Bush to reinforce our commitment to promoting freedom and supporting women and girls across the Middle East."
The centerpiece is a speech Saturday before the World Economic Forum in Amman.
Also while in Jordan, Mrs. Bush is to meet with Queen Rania, tour a school supported by U.S. government funds and visit a foundation that helps indigent women find jobs, said Susan Whitson, Mrs. Bush's spokeswoman.
On Mrs. Bush's schedule in Israel, where she arrives Sunday, is a meeting with the wife of Israeli President Moshe Katsav, remarks on the empowerment of women, a stop in the West Bank town of Jericho — control of which was handed over to the Palestinians by Israel in March — and visits to Jewish and Muslim historical sites.
Mrs. Bush spends Monday and Tuesday in Egypt. She and Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will visit a girls school, tape a show that is the Egyptian equivalent of "Sesame Street" and go to Egypt's famed Pyramids complex south of Cairo.
She also plans a speech to Egyptian community leaders, and a visit to the ancient port city of Alexandria, a onetime intellectual center on the Mediterranean.
While there, Mrs. Bush is visiting a library that was opened three years ago as a modern version of the ancient library founded about 295 B.C. but burned to the ground in the 4th century. The new Bibliotheca Alexandrina, built as part of an attempt to recapture some of Alexandria's intellectual glory, contains about 240,000 books, a planetarium, conference hall, five research institutes, six galleries and three museums.
Mrs. Bush, a former public school teacher and librarian, spends much of her time at home focusing on early childhood education and, more recently, help for juvenile delinquents.
Her travels without her husband — about a half a dozen trips in just over four years in the White House, including Moscow, Hungary, the Czech Republic, two stops in Paris and even Afghanistan — are important goodwill missions for the United States. Without wading deeply into sensitive topics, Mrs. Bush has become an ambassador for American values before often-skeptical audiences.
She won over many in France during a September 2003 visit in which French President Jacques Chirac famously kissed her hand.
Her image-repair mission in the Middle East may be her most complicated yet.
Anti-American sentiment is strong in the region in the wake of the Iraq war, the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian dispute, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and allegations of mistreatment of terrorism suspects at a U.S. naval prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
There is now new controversy over a Newsweek story — later retracted — alleging that military investigators found evidence that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo tried to make suspects talk by desecrating the Quran.
I don't think this is a good idea.
LOL I think that was the first cousin LAUREN BUSH!
OOPS! Sorry about that my eyes did a brain fart.
In Israel I think she will be fine. I am more worried about Egypt and Jordan.
LOL Actually I had to google her name. I recognized the face but wasn't sure if she really was a Laura or a Lauren.
Any Chippendales clubs over there?
;O)
I hope the SS is hyped up on the job for this one. I shudder to think what would happen if islaminazis got a hold of her.
Of course parts of the ME may glow in the dark of something happened to her.
They were called the Cheopskates.
She'll be OK. The news hypes a lot of stuff. Both of those countries are pretty sane and civilized. I just came in from Jordan (to Baghdad) earlier today and I found the Jordanians friendly and pretty pro-American.
I get more of an anti-American vibe in Europe than in Jordan. Seriously.
((((((GROAN))))))
I believe you. I know nothing about these countries. I serously think she will be well protected. But after the grenade getting near our president in Georgia I worry a bit.
She must be a fairly good pilot, like her hubby.
Just as long as she doesn't fly over the White House!
that is funny! Good one Argh!
"Argh" indeed.
My own opinion of course , but this bothers me .....a lot.
:^)
Those kids are getting taught the American way, while our kids are getting taught the anti-American ways.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.