(snip)
Not everything went as planned, however, including some photo mishaps.
In Belgium, the airport VIP area where she was formally welcomed Wednesday was decorated with two floor-to-ceiling photos of tourist beach scenes with hundreds of people -- including eight topless women, according to aides. Rice's advance team made sure that the American and Belgian flags were strategically placed so she couldn't see the photos and cameras wouldn't capture her in front of them.
When she went to Ramallah on the West Bank for talks with new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rice's motorcade deliberately sped by the grave of Yasser Arafat. During its first term, the Bush administration refused to deal with the late Palestinian president -- making new leadership the precondition for any contact or push on the peace process. But at the joint Rice-Abbas news conference, the Palestinians put the dais in front of a large photo of Jerusalem's exotically tiled Dome of the Rock -- with Arafat's face pictured on the side and within camera range.
Rice has big shoes to fill. Colin Powell was not only the most popular member of the first Bush administration -- both at home and abroad -- he was also one of the most admired Americans, according to public opinion surveys.
Powell was so trusted, an Arab head of state once reflected in private conversation, because when he began discussions he asked what was on the mind of his interlocutor. "Then," the leader said, "he will frame what the United States wants in terms of what we set out."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12401-2005Feb9.html