A Nation of Terrorists?

My daughter called me from Chicago early this afternoon and told me that while walking in the downtown area near Union Station, she walked into a rally protesting the United States' support of Kosovo's declaration of independence. She said the banners proclaimed that the United States is a nation of terrorists.

Feeling a bit alarmed, I suggested that she "get out of there."

She laughed into her cell phone, and agreed.

Protesting Kosovo's Independence in Belgrade: Attacking U.S. Embassy

The US embassy's outer office was set on on fire on Thursday and several windows were broken [in Belgrade.]

Western officials have called on Serbia to do more to protect diplomatic offices in Belgrade, after overnight rioting, which left at least one person dead, damaged a number of embassies.

Boris Tadic, the Serb president, called an emergency meeting of the national security council on Friday, saying such riots must "never happen again".

He said in a statement: "There is no excuse for the violence. Nobody can justify what happened yesterday."

Rioters attacked US and other Western embassies in the Serbian capital late on Thursday to protest Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence last weekend.

Kosovo: "Proud, Independent, and Free"

photo credit: Getty Images

"From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free," said Thaci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which battled Serbian troops in a 1998-99 separatist war that claimed 10,000 lives. "We never lost faith in the dream that one day we would stand among the free nations of the world, and today we do."