Don't know why rim's thread was closed, but here's an interesting followup... Anger as Bush bids to exploit Olympic games Lawrence Donegan in Athens Monday August 23, 2004 The Guardian President George Bush stood accused of appropriating the Olympic movement for political means last night, amid reports he was planning to visit Athens later this week to watch some sporting events, including a potential gold-medal winning bid by the Iraqi football team. According to unconfirmed reports in the US, the White House is examining the logistical and security implications of Mr Bush travelling to the Greek capital in time for Saturday's football final. Iraq, whose progress to the semi-finals of the tournament has been one of the games' most captivating stories, will meet Paraguay tomorrow night for a possible place in the finals. The Greek foreign ministry confirmed last night that the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, will be in Athens for the closing ceremony. But it is the potential presidential visit to the games that will fuel a dispute between the election campaign of Mr Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, and the US Olympic Committee over an advert which links Iraq's and Afghanistan's participation in the games with the US administration's "war on terror". The advert, which has been broadcast in the US for the past week, begins with footage from the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, during which 13 Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists, and continues with a narrator saying: "Freedom is spreading through the world like a sunrise. And this Olympics there will be two more free nations and two less terrorist regimes." As the flags of Afghanistan and Iraq flutter in the breeze, it concludes: "With strength, resolve and courage, democracy will triumph over terror and hope will defeat hatred." Under American copyright law, only the US Olympic Committee has the right to use the Olympic insignia, images and trademarks for marketing purposes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1288645,00.html
Shameless is what it is. The fact that there is still fighting going on in these countries,begs the question how free are these countries? Shows you how desperate shrub has become. Why doesn't he just run on his accomplishments here at home. Maybe because he doesn't have many.
Olympics Chiefs Want Bush Campaign to Back Off By Ossian Shine ATHENS (Reuters) - Olympic officials are seething at a campaign ad for President Bush which, they say, hijacks the Olympic brand. "We are following what is happening and hope this campaign will stop," said Gerhard Heiberg, head of the International Olympic Committee's Marketing Commission. "We own the rights to the Olympic name and nobody asked us," he said while attending the Athens Olympics. The television advertisement does not feature the five Olympic rings -- one of the world's most recognizable images -- but an announcer tells viewers that at "this Olympics there will be two more free nations," referring to the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq under Bush's presidency. It is the U.S. Olympic Committee's responsibility to protect the Olympic brand in the United States and Heiberg said they were taking steps to do so. "The USOC took immediate action," he said, without elaborating. "The USOC is dealing with this matter." But while Heiberg was diplomatic, other IOC (news - web sites) members were blunt. "This is quite amazing," one member said on condition of anonymity. "The arrogance is unbelievable. To use the Olympic name like this, without permission... it's just incredible." Another said: "That anyone should do this is just astonishing." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040825/pl_nm/olympics_bush_dc&cid=615&ncid=2043
