Mrs. Clinton, In Greece, Stumps For Women

ATHENS, Greece (Allpolitics, March 29) -- Visiting the city where democracy first flourished, first lady Hillary Clinton encouraged nations worldwide to increase their support for women and children's well-being and self-determination.

"Here and in the United States -- and around the globe -- we see too many people who remain on the margins of society," Mrs. Clinton told a group of prominant Athenians gathered at Zappeion Assembly Hall, in Athens, Greece. "We see children who are hungry, unhealthy, unschooled and unloved,"

The culprit? Goverment budget cuts: "We see women who are denied access to what I call the tools of opportunity -- health care, education, jobs, credit, legal protection and political rights -- that they need to become equal partners in society," the first lady said .

Mrs. Clinton and her daughter Chelsea, 16, also toured the Acropolis and visited ruins that were the site of the first attempts at democratic government. The Clintons' arrived in Athens Thursday on the last leg of a nine-day trip to the area, during which they stopped in both Bosnia and Turkey. Saturday, they will attend the lighting of the Olympic flame in Western Greece.

Earlier this week, Mrs. Clinton visited American troops in Bosnia. Not since Eleanor Roosevelt has a first lady visited troops in a hot war unaccompanied by the president.

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