Natan Sharansky (b. 1948) is a former Soviet Refusenik and protégé of Andrei Sakharov, former hard-line Israeli politician and present-day writer.
His “The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror� (2004), co-written with Ron Dermer, is said to have influenced President Bush and other leading conservative Republican lights. In it, Sharansky argues that human rights and societal stability can only be assured by releasing people from their oppressors and turn them into free societies, an oft-made argument by supporters of the war in Iraq.
An excerpt:
“This community of free nations will not emerge on its own. It will require both the clarity of the democratic world to see the profound moral difference between the world of freedom and the world of fear, and the courage to confront fear societies everywhere. I am convinced that a successful effort to expand freedom around the world must be inspired and led by the United States. In the twentieth century, America proved time and again that it possessed both the clarity and courage that is necessary to defeat evil. Following that example, the democracies of the world can defeat the tyranny that threatens our world today and the tyrannies that would threaten it tomorrow. To do so, we must believe not only that all people are created equal but also that all peoples are created equal.�