Olympics Open With Jaw-Dropping Pyrotechnics

"We strongly believe societies which allow the free expression of ideas tend to be the most prosperous and the most peaceful," Bush said.

The Olympic rings are silhouetted during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the National Stadium in Beijing on Aug. 8.

(Kyodo via AP Images)

The Chinese government had pointedly suggested that the American president butt out of its affairs.

The stunning launch of the Olympics capped seven years and billions of dollars spent on planning for the Chinese, as well as months of protests, battles with smog, police crackdowns and threats by terrorists.

The months before today's lavish ceremony has been marked by China's brutal repression of protests by Tibetan monks and ensuing anti-Chinese protests around the world. Even the world tour of the Olympic torch became a tug-of-war, as heavy Chinese security kept crowds away while activists tried to grab the torch or extinguish it.

China was also rattled in the middle of its rush to get ready for the games by a massive earthquake that devastated its Sichuan province.

But it was the issue of security that has dogged the pre-game planning, and it continued through the ceremonies. An Air China jetliner flying from Japan to China turned back early today and the departure of four others was delayed after an anonymous e-mail threatened to bomb the planes.

In China's restive Muslim region of Xinjiang, police shut down the capital's usually busy bazaar today after receiving threats that an Islamic group might target buses, trains and planes during the Olympics.

And a pro-Tibet group says three American activists have been detained after trying to protest near the venue for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Students for a Free Tibet executive director Lhadon Tethong says the trio was grabbed by police as they traveled to the Beijing National Stadium, where they had planned to hold Tibetan flags during the opening.

And pro-Tibetan groups held protests outside Chinese embassies in several countries in an effort to steal the limelight from the Olympics' debut. One protester set himself on fire outside the Chinese embassy in Istanbul.

That emphasis on security was evident today in the hours before the first fireworks exploded as the usually teeming Tianamen Square was swept clean of tourists and Chinese, leaving it eerily quiet and empty.