Bush marks Human Rights Day

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush marked International Human Rights Day Monday, saying "we're in an ideological struggle against people who murder the innocent."

Bush held an hourlong meeting at the White House with Jewish religious and political leaders who have resettled in the United States and Israel, fleeing religious repression in other countries. First lady Laura Bush observed the day with a separate event on Myanmar.

Among guests of the president were Judea and Ruth Pearl, the parents of slain Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl. Ruth Pearl originally was from Iraq; her husband is from Israel.

"We discussed the world in which we live today," Bush said after the meeting. "We all recognize that we're in an ideological struggle against people who murder the innocent in order to achieve political objectives, and … the best way to defeat an ideology of hate is with an ideology of hope."

The first lady led a discussion on Myanmar, the Southeast Asian country former known as Burma.

"For nearly 20 years, Burma's military regime has crushed peaceful dissent and jailed thousands of political prisoners," she said.

"Regimes with the least respect for basic human rights are often the ones least able to provide for their citizens' basic human needs. In Burma, the generals' arbitrary economic decisions have yielded widespread misery and poverty."