| goleoboy makes a lot of sense to me although I am not one to question the motives of the Dalai Lama or his situation in being out of Tibet.
The people running security for the torch have to had the training they got and how to defend the runner and torch without creating a bigger issue - the purpose of any security detail. I doubt they were told to attack- just defend.
If you think the President of the United States doesn't travel with his armed Secret Service people to other countries, you'd be dreaming. They aren't thugs, just people doing their job. If you look at what happened on Bush's second inauguration, they had to move him back into his car and cancel the rest of the normal historic walk from Capitol Hill to the White House. This is problematic when it is a torch that is supposed to be seen. Maybe they need to get the Pope Mobile and put the torch in that with a holder and runners running along side. Even that will get attacked.
The Olympics are a lightning rod for every moron claiming human rights violations and doing it by violating the rights of the torch bearers to move in peace along the streets of major world cities.
Vancouver has had its share of local idiots who took over the microphones and stage wearing masks at the unveiling of the Countdown clock to the 2010 Games. There will be more.  | 