powell chickens out - August 28, 2004
annatopia.com/archives/000837.html

the greeks certainly are a passionate people, don't you think?

colin powell has cancelled a planned trip to greece in which he was to attend the closing ceremonies at the olympics. the official reason is that he had more pressing matters in washington to attend to. while i don't doubt that he is needed elsewhere, i can't help but think the protests had something to do with it.

depending on which news source you read, the number of protesters participating in yesterday's march ranged from a few hundred to 6,000. it turned ugly at the end, with police firing tear gas into the crowd as they marched toward the american embassy. fortunately no arrests were made and no serious injuries were reported.

it's pretty sad when one of our highest government officials can't visit one of our allies without being greeted by angry protesters. aside from the annual g8 summits, this didn't really happen when clinton was president...