You Don't Want To Make Alan Greenspan Mad

With yesterday's bomb explosions in London, a lot of important news items got pushed aside, and respectfully so.  For instance, you didn't hear much about Sudan's foreign minister calling Secretary of State Conoleezza Rice to apologize for manhandling of U.S. officials and journalists during her visit with the President of Sudan.  Rice's senior adviser and some reporters faced-off with guards at the palace of the Sudanese president. Guards elbowed the Americans and tried to rip a tape away from a reporter.  Rice's interpreter and other aides were also blocked at a gate.

Yesterday, shortly after the foreign minister called Rice to apologize, an NBC news correspondent was roughed up with she asked the Sudan president about the alleged atrocities in Sudan.  Guards grabbed her, and twisted her arm behind her back a la WWF Smackdown or an episode of COPS, and muscled her to the rear of the room as State Department officials shouted at the guards to leave her alone.  The correspondent was Andrea Mitchell.  I'm sure you've heard of her.  She happens to be married to Alan Greenspan.  I know you've heard of him.  He happens to be the head of the Federal Reserve. 

I have a hard time believing that the President of Sudan, Africa's biggest country, didn't know who Andrea Mitchell's husband is.  I know he remembers the three quarters of a billion dollars in humanitarian aid the U.S. has given his country over the past two years.  And I'm pretty sure the G8 Summit, just a couple of weeks ago, is still fresh in his mind.  But I just can't believe that he didn't know his guards were assaulting the wife of the man that controls America's money supply; the money that could be going to help out his country.  Not a smart move.

In an interview last night, Mitchell said she is angry and humiliated after the Sudanese president's bodyguards dragged her out of the the room. As you can see from the picture above, large gun-toting thugs surrounded the 5'3" Mitchell. "It makes me even more determined when dictators and alleged war criminals are not held to account.  If our government is going to establish a relationship and push for a new beginning as Sudan reforms itself, they have to live up to international standards.  A free press is part of that process."   She went on to say that no one from Sudan had called her to apologize. Being the class act and professional that she is, Mitchell said "I would rather see them live up to their promises. What they did to me is not important.  They can't control my life."  Props to you, and your husband, Andrea.