The Laura Bush Doctrine in Myanmar

The legacy of Laura Bush includes a focus on children's literacy, heart disease prevention, historic preservation -- and now, a forceful argument for multilateral intervention against the junta in Myanmar, under the principles of international law. The former first lady has an op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post, calling on the United Nations to "do the same for Myanmar" as it has done for war crimes committed in Darfur: refer the human-rights violations committed by the junta to the International Criminal Court.
Laura Bush notes that it was watching the protests in Iran that sparked her to write the piece. Still, her interest in Myanmar dates back to when she heard the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 64-year-old woman who is the leader of the opposition movement in Myanmar and is currently under house arrest. In fact, toward the end of her husband's second term, Laura Bush put in a call to U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon to urge a resolution be put forth condemning the arrest of protesters and dissidents, including Suu Kyi -- a move that caused some criticism and also some surprise at the First Lady's involvement in international affairs.

"I think this is sort of one of those myths that I was baking cookies, and then they fell off the cookie sheet and I called Ban Ki-moon," she told the Post in 2008. (A quote that calls to mind another first lady and current secretary of state, and her comment that if she had wanted to keep people happy she could have stayed home and baked cookies, but she had professional commitments to fill.)

As the protests in Iran have unfolded, the interest in the protesters and the women who have been such a large part of them has also shifted attention toward women who have been organizing worldwide. A lot of the focus has been on women who have become symbols of dissent or opposition leaders, like Neda Soltan, Zahra Rahnavard and Aung San Suu Kyi.

But, as important -- and inspiring -- as these women are, it's important also to remember the roles of countless other women in bringing these movements to critical mass, especially as women have so much riding on the outcome. Of Myanmar, Bush notes that women "are often the regime's chief targets," and the difference between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on issues like women's involvement in government and education was key in sending so many women to the polls for Mousavi in Iran. When regimes become repressive, women are often among the first to suffer, politically, economically and socially, so it should come as no surprise that the front lines of dissent have been filled with women, too.