WASHINGTON, May 7, (KUNA): Former US First Lady Laura Bush chose Kuwait Embassy to be the launch pad of her new memoir ‘Spoken from the Heart’, with Kuwait’s Ambassador Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his wife holding a reception to celebrate the new publication.
In a speech he gave during the reception, which was attended by senior US officials, as well as top Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Sheikh Salem described Bush as being “a beloved figure in America and in deed throughout the world.” He said that Bush was “an advocate for human rights in Burma, a global leader in the fight against AIDS and malaria and a champion of literacy at home and abroad.” “She was one of the first US officials to visit war-torn Afghanistan, and she championed programs to get kids out of gangs and stop urban violence,” the Kuwaiti ambassador added.
He recalled what former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once said of Laura Bush, that “she is strong in her commitment to her family and strong in her commitment to our country and to principals and values that she holds dear. Bush expressed her gratitude and appreciation to Sheikh Salem and his wife Rima Al-Sabah for the numerous times she was hosted at their residence for various functions, saying that “this is the perfect place” to have her first book reception on the day of its publication.
She also recognized Rice and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom she described as “two of our most recent strong women secretaries of state.” Bush also gave a few words from the heart for Sheikh Salem and his spouse. “Thank you for your friendship, thank you for all the really wonderful ways you hosted George and me in the years that we were here.

“Every time raising lots of money for a lot of our favorite causes.” One of the distinguished guests present at the reception was Marvin Hamlisch, who had a special song prepared for Bush entitled ‘Spoken from the Heart’, after the name of her memoir.
In her book, Bush sheds light on the Sept 11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan. She also writes about the 2003 war on Iraq, where she says that Saddam Hussein’s regime “was a regime of terror of large and small ones,” and gave a vivid description of the “countless mass graves” discovered by the US and British forces in Iraq and how she and her husband worried about their troops every day.
About 500 guests attended the reception at the Kuwaiti ambassador’s residence in honor of Bush, including Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn, the spouse of the Mayor of Washington D.C. Adrian Fenty, Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama Susan Sher, Senior Director at the National Security Council for Asian Affairs Jeffrey Bader, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in addition to bipartisan congressional guests.