US heaps praise on Greece for Olympics, says Powell will visit in October

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2004

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Monday lavished praise on Greece for its hosting of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games and pledged that US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who cancelled his planned attendance at the weekend closing ceremonies at the last minute, would visit the country in October.

"It was a spectacular end to a very successful event," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said of the Sunday ceremony at which Powell was to have represented the United States.

"(We have) repeatedly conveyed ... our congratulations to Greece for the success of the Olympics and the way that they were handled: safely, securely and with great fanfare and excitement around the world," he told reporters. "So we congratulate them once more."

Boucher insisted...