What Did You Do in The War Daddy?

The children of today's Greek armed forces will get an unusual answer to the timeless question "What did you do in the war daddy?".

Their fathers will say "I went to the Olympics".

Instead of being dispatched to the corner of a foreign field, the Greek armed forces are on war alert in their own country.

Is there a threat of invasion?

No

Are they at war?

No

This high state of alert is due to the forthcoming Olympic Games being held in Athens, which are scheduled to kick off on 13th August.

All problems, costs and security issues are being blamed (as with everything else in the world that goes wrong, or is used as an excuse for increased government intrusion) on September 11th.

The cost of the security arrangements for the Olympics 2004 will exceed 1.2BN Euros.

It seems that every member of Greece's armed forces will be involved, one way or another, in protecting the Games. The operation is code named "Ifitos", after the king who founded the Olympic Games. Greece's Patriot missile defence system will be on alert, and around 70000 security personnel will be on duty during the Games.

On top of the home defence forces, Greece has also called on NATO to lend a hand. NATO AWACS surveillance aircraft will patrol the skies, NATO's Mediterranean fleet will patrol the seas and an emergency biochemical and nuclear warfare unit will be on standby.

Let us trust that with the confusion, delays and use of illegal labour in the Olympic construction projects; that terrorists have not copied the IRA's bomb attack in Brighton 1984, which was an almost successful attempt to kill Margaret Thatcher during the Conservative Party conference being held in Brighton.

The IRA planted the bomb, a good few weeks before the detonation, in the paneling of a hotel bathroom. No amount of body searches of delegates, or "ring of steel" security measures prevented that attack.

To read about the 1984 bomb, please visit 1984 Brighton bombing.