The Spoils of Diplomatic Friendship
Secretary Rice takes time out for golf and a ballgame with Iraq ally.
May 24, 2007— -- Golf courses have long been a favorite venue for schmoozing and deal making in the business world. High-powered executives use strolls down the fairway to hammer out details and cement agreements, or just as a way to cozy up to a business partner.
And now it appears Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is taking a page from the business world and adding it to her diplomatic playbook.
Rice is on a two-day tour through California with her Australian counterpart, a leisurely trip meant to underscore the deep relationship between the two countries.
Thursday Rice and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer teed up for a round of golf on a sunny, breezy California afternoon. Call it diplomacy at the tip of a nine-iron.
There's no telling what the two talked about as they played the links, but Rice insists she hasn't taken her eye off the ball.
"I'm of course, keeping my eye on all of the hot spots around the world," she reassured Fox News in an interview Wednesday.
Such friendly trips between allies are nothing new but are usually reserved for only the closest of supporters.
Australia has remained a staunch ally of the United States throughout the Bush presidency.
The country has more than 1,400 troops in Iraq, more than 10 percent of the non-U.S. coalition troops in the country and its conservative prime minister has been a staunch supporter of President Bush.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard was in the Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001, and he has not hesitated to take critics to task, including Democratic presidential candidates such as Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
In one notable incident earlier this year, Howard told an Australian television show, "If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats."
Obama dismissed the rare international incident.
Related Stories
ABC News Live