Sharansky. Inspired US policy
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
Bush. Greatly influenced
Photo: Reuters
Dear Natan, from your soul mate George
For over year, American President Bush has been conducting correspondence with Israeli MK Natan Sharansky, whose book helped shape US administration's doctrine on democracy in Arab world. I am proud to be your soul mate, Bush writes Sharansky in letter
Source of inspiration: Between running a war in Iraq and attempting to bring peace to the Middle East, American President George W. Bush finds time in his busy schedule to correspond with a pen pal from Israel: Likud MK Natan Sharansky.
For over a year now, the United States leader and the Israeli politician have been exchanging letters and ideas with one another regularly. The most significant meeting between Bush and Sharansky, which led to the avid correspondence, took place about a year and-a-half ago.
Sharansky was invited to meet with the president after Bush was greatly impressed with a book authored by the MK, "The Case for Democracy." In his book, Sharansky claims that the principles of democracy should form the basis for coexistence with the Arab world, and that Arab countries should be encouraged to undergo democratic processes that will culminate in general elections.
Ever since that meeting, Washington officials have kept in touch with Sharansky, and the president himself has made it a custom to write to the Israeli MK frequently. In his last letter to Sharansky, written following an article published by the latter in The Wall Street Journal, Bush wrote that he was proud to be Sharansky's "soul mate."
Sharansky, who refused to comment on the letters' content, told Yedioth Ahronoth: "I am very pleased with the president's views on democracy and the Arab world. We don't agree on everything, for example – I opposed the Road Map peace plan - but the implementation of the ideas expressed in my book is correct."
Sharansky's special connection with the US administration has also turned him into a sought-after publicist in the American press, and he is often asked to contribute his analyses on the war in Iraq.
