Sixty thousand people stood as one in respectful silence at the start of the program when the tattered American flag, recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center disaster, was carried into the stadium by eight U.S. athletes accompanied by three New York Port Authority police officers.
The silence continued as the Utah Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed the national anthem with a kind of haunting dignity seldom heard in an age of embellishment.
More than 2,500 athletes from 77 nations marched into the stadium during the first half of the ceremony. According to IOC protocol, Greece marched into the stadium first because of its status as the birthplace of the Olympics, modern and ancient.
There was no outcry about politics.
And no, the Arabs did not boycott those Olympics either--while the Arabs are threatening to boycott the London Olypics if there is a moment of silence.
But the victims of 9/11 who were murdered by Osama bin Laden were Americans.
Not Israelis.
Hat tip: This Ongoing War
Technorati Tag: Israel and London Olympics and Munich Massacre and 9-11.
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