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ABU SHOUK, Sudan, July 21 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's official visit with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan turned angry after today Sudanese security officers pushed and shoved members of her delegation and the news media as they tried to enter the meeting site at the presidential palace.
Ms. Rice said she was "outraged" and demanded an official apology, which the foreign minister delivered by phone a little more than an hour later. But it was clear the incident left her angry and worsened an already difficult relationship...
As James Wilkinson, Ms. Rice's communications director, tried to join the meeting, security officers shoved him against the wall. "Diplomacy 101 says you don't rough up your guests," he said afterward.
After Ms. Rice entered the meeting with Mr. Bashir, they sat in awkward silence for almost 10 minutes because Mr. Bashir speaks only Arabic and his security guards refused to let Ms. Rice's translator in...
After the meeting, American and Sudanese reporters and photographers were allowed to enter the room to take pictures and observe. Mr. Bashir was telling Ms. Rice about the historical significance of his ancestral home when Andrea Mitchell of NBC News shouted a question to Mr. Bashir: "Why should Americans believe your promises" regarding Darfur, when "your government is still supporting the militias?"
Before she could finish, two Sudanese security officers grabbed her from behind and dragged her from the room. Mr. Bashir did not respond to the question or otherwise comment.
Whatever differences I have with Ms. Rice and the regime she works for, this is idiocy; we've invaded Iraq and a slew of other countries on less pretext than this. And for what purpose? Oh, yeah, we're not going to probe more about the murderous activites of these folks. We'll just go away. Riiight.
Does this guy have a death wish?
Besides wasn't that Mrs. Allen Greenspan his goons roughed up?
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