First lady defends Bush's record WASHINGTON  President Bush may have joked about the shoe-throwing incident in Iraq, but first lady Laura Bush was not amused. "As a wife, I saw this as an assault, and that's what it was," she told USA TODAY during an interview Thursday at the White House. "And so I didn't laugh it off like he did." SHOE-THROWER: Journalist asks for pardon A month before returning to private life, Bush talked about her plans. She said she will continue her public advocacy of women's rights in Afghanistan and democracy for Burma. A self-described "ambassador" for her husband's policies over the past eight years, Bush praised her husband's record in Iraq and Afghanistan. She said she will be an active defender of those actions "because they are worth defending." "Fifty million people are free from tyranny because of the United States and because of my husband's policies," she said. "These are very, very important, world-changing happenings, and they're for the best." On Iraq, she said, "Do people really wish Saddam Hussein were still there? I don't think so." Bush said she has seen the tape of her husband ducking the two shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist. "Of course, he is very quick," she said. "That was one of things I saw — he's such a natural athlete." Asked if she worries about her husband's security, she said, "Not really." But "any spouse of a president thinks at some time a little bit about the safety of their loved one." Afghanistan and Burma have been priorities and will continue to be after Jan. 20. Bush plans to work with her husband's Freedom Institute, part of his presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush said she has "met with a few publishers" about a book deal, though nothing is final. "If I write a book, it'll be about things that happened in the White House, and my take on them," Bush said. And will she try to get back at her husband's critics? "That's not really my personality," she said. The first lady said talks with Michelle Obama have been mostly about family. "We've talked about how the house is a home," she said. "I know that's her first priority right now, is to make it a home for her little girls." Bush said she and her husband have the same "West Texas values" they brought with them in 2001, but they have weathered difficult storms. "Fortunately, we are really strong, tough people," she said. "I mean, we are. And this job requires it." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more