Statement by President Obama:
 
"I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing today of Vaclav Havel, a playwright and prisoner of conscience who became president of Czechoslovakia and of the Czech Republic. Having encountered many setbacks, Havel lived with a spirit of hope, which he defined as 'the ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.'

"His peaceful resistance shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology, and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon. He played a seminal role in the Velvet Revolution that won his people their freedom and inspired generations to reach for self-determination and dignity in all parts of the world. He also embodied the aspirations of half a continent that had been cut off by the Iron Curtain, and helped unleash tides of history that led to a united and democratic Europe.
 
"Like millions around the world, I was inspired by his words and leadership, and was humbled to stand with the Czech people in a free and vibrant Hradcany Square as President. We extend our condolences to President Havel’s family and all those in the Czech Republic and around the world who remain inspired by his example. Vaclav Havel was a friend to America and to all who strive for freedom and dignity, and his words will echo through the ages." (read more)

Former President George W. Bush made his feelings known on a recent study that showed only a third of post-9/11 veterans say the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were worth fighting.

"I hope history proves them wrong," Bush told Good Morning America on Monday.  "The only way for there to be peace is for free societies to emerge, and history takes awhile to unfold."

 (read more)

Former President George W. Bush has backed out of a planned speaking engagement Saturday at the YPO Leadership Summit in Denver after learning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was invited to speak at the same event.

"Six months ago, President Bush accepted an invitation to speak to the YPO Global Leadership Summit in Denver on February 26, 2011," Bush spokesman David Sherzer said in a statement. "This week, upon learning that Julian Assange had recently been invited to address the same summit, President Bush decided to cancel his appearance."

Assange's website, WikeLeaks, published hundreds-of-thousands of classified Pentagon and State Department documents allegedly obtained from Private First Class Bradley Manning, an Army specialist. Manning was arrested and is being held at a military prison in Quantico, Virginia.

Many of the leaked documents have to do with the Bush administration's foreign policy, especially its management of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (read more)

Former president George W. Bush and his wife are safe and sound after police detained a man near Bush's Dallas home Wednesday night.

According to local news reports, a man was caught erratically driving a muscle car in the upscale Preston Hollow neighborhood. As many as 13 police cars responded to what was then listed as an "executive threat" at around 8:15pm CT, when the man-apparently accidentally-drove onto the president's property.

Reports suggest the police K-9 unit was also called to the scene; whether the suspect attempted to flee is unclear, but the president and his family apparently faced no actual threat.

Bush spokesman David Sherzer made the following statement to Fox News:

"President and Mrs. Bush are OK. They appreciate the work of the United States Secret Service and Dallas Police Department in responding to the incident."

Dallas Police and the Secret Service were unable to provide comment at the time of this post.

Fox News White House Correspondent Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Former President George W. Bush steadily refuses to criticize his Oval Office successor, but in a live-cast interview Monday with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the 43rd president doled out a few light-hearted jabs mixed with advice for the young hoodie-wearing social media mogul.

Dressed in a casual button-down shirt and jacket, the former president visited Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California to promote his memoir "Decision Points," released in early November. Close to 7,000 users tuned in to Facebook Live to watch the unlikely pair discuss the social networking company, their shared passion for education, and Wikileaks.

"The truth of the matter is, I am shamelessly marketing," the former president said when asked why he chose to appear on Facebook. "You got a lot of people paying attention to us, and I'm trying to sell books."

Bush, who has referred to the World Wide Web as "the Internets," said he has over 600,000 Facebook friends. "I use the Facebook as a way to stay in touch with people who are interested, and who, you know, worked in our administration and are interested in what Laura and I are doing," he said.

Bush joked that one of his "dear buddies," Northern California local Condoleezza Rice, might be watching the Facebook broadcast as he spoke. "If you're listening Condi, how come you're not in the audience? Or have you bought the book?" (read more)

Former President George W. Bush recalls his mother showing him a jar containing the remains of her miscarried fetus as a formative moment in his memoir "Decision Points," released earlier this month. But Barbara Bush on Monday night had a few distinctions to share about the story.

"It's not in the library," the elder Mrs. Bush said with a chuckle when asked about the jar anecdote in an interview with CNN's Larry King alongside her husband.

In his memoir, the former president recounts driving his mother to the hospital after she miscarried, the remains enclosed in a jar for transport. He has said he included the painful moment from his teenage years in the memoir to show how his relationship with his mother developed, and that she gave him special permission to write about it.

Mrs. Bush did not dispute how the story came to be included in her son's book. "He asked permission, and I gave him permission," she said. But the often frank matriarch of the Bush family said she did not recall showing her son the jar, as he remembered. "Paula put it in a jar, and I was shocked when she gave it to him," she said. (read more)

In a closed-door speech to alumni of his administrations, George W. Bush was in a freewheeling and reflective mood.

A Bush insider who was at the Thursday night event tells FOX News that the lengthy speech and question and answer session was like a more frank version of the interviews Bush has been doing as part of the book tour for his memoir "Decision Points."

On stage with former chiefs of staff Josh Bolten and Andy Card, Bush promised the alumni of his two administrations something they couldn't get on talk shows or even in the book.

"I didn't put everything in the book," Bush told the crowd. "Nobody reads a doorstop."

One of the first moments of levity came when Bolten went to the podium to read Bush a text message from U2 front man Bono thanking the 43rd president for his work in Africa fighting AIDS and poverty.

Bush then pretended to dictate a note "Dear Bono..." (read more)

Former President George W. Bush refused to comment on the controversial proposal to build a mosque and community center near Ground Zero in New York City -- saying he doesn't want his answer to be compared to that of President Obama or other predecessors.

"Today Show" host Matt Lauer quoted remarks Bush made at a mosque in the days following September 11, where he told the nation "the face of terror is not the true face of Islam," and "in our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect." Lauer said that these remarks could mean that Bush would support the construction of the mosque.

"If I look at your words there," Lauer told Bush, "It makes it seem to me as if you're saying that the rights of Muslims should not be denied for the sake of the sorrow of others."

"If I listen to what you're trying to rope me into, you're trying to get me to talk about this mosque issue," Bush replied, to audible laughter from the crew. (read more)

With former President George W. Bush's memoir "Decision Points" hitting bookstores Tuesday, Bush, who has kept a low public profile since leaving office, is speaking up about his book and some of his most controversial presidential judgment calls.

"Somebody said, congratulations, your popularity is way up since you left office. And my answer is so what?" Bush quipped to the Today Show's Matt Lauer in an interview that aired Monday night. "If you chase popularity, you're chasing a moment. You're chasing a poof of air."

That's the tone the former president has taken on his tour to promote his book, which covers 14 "decision points" in his presidency and the events that triggered those decisions.

Bush has said he will "emerge then submerge," creating buzz about his 481-page memoir before returning to living life largely out of the public eye. He will make a rare appearance Thursday in Washington, D.C., a city he refers to as "the swamp," to speak about his memoir at a Bush-Cheney Alumni Association event at the Chamber of Commerce, which is expected to draw over 450 people, former White House aides tell Fox News. (read more)

In his new book, President Bush takes a different approach to presidential memoirs. In "Decision Points," he lays out 14 decision points in his presidency, many not of his own choosing but rather forced on him by events.

Terry Holt, a former aide says, "when you read this book, you're gonna see a guy that really had the weight of world literally on his shoulders for almost every moment of the 8 years of his presidency."

And it started early, when terrorists launched the worst attack on American civilians in our history-- the day now known simply as 9/11. From then on, the war against terrorists and those who might help them defined the rest of the Bush presidency.

The U.S. soon launched attacks against Al Q'aeda and its supporters in Afghanistan.

Then came the war in Iraq. President Bush explains in the book how the US had spent years working through the United Nations, an effort to contain Saddam's ambitions for weapons.

"Saddam Hussein didn't just pursue weapons of mass destruction. He had used them," Bush writes. "He deployed mustard gas and nerve agents against the Iranians and massacred more than five thousand innocent civilians." (read more)