They are true Olympians, and they speak out.

[trinityvixen]

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign. He can find another way to advertise himself."
-Salih Sadir, midfielder on Iraq's Olympic men's soccer team

Does Dubya just not get it? He can't say, "Oh, look how I've saved these men who are so good they're poised to win gold in Athens." Truthfully, as disgusting as it is, under Saddam, a good team would have been well-funded, built up as being evidence of Iraqi survival despite the cruel sanctions of the West, and they probably still would have won. Instead, they are a team representing an underdog war-torn nation, and they are loved in spite of our president, not there because of him.

It does make you pause, though, doesn't it? Bush wants to use the Iraq team to show what a good guy he is for determining how Iraq will be run. If Saddam were still in power, he'd be doing the same thing. Makes you think, don't it?

Comments

[kimpire.livejournal.com]

Yet, under Saddam, soccer team members who do badly are tortured and executed, which is one reason Iraq was banned from the Olympics until this year. So Bush does have a certain right to share credit for their current achievements.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Thanks to Bush, this wunderkind team hasn't been able to practice in their own country since the war began.

And, yes, I'd heard all about the abuses inflicted by Saddam's sons upon the soccer team in particular (I believe it was Uday?). I am not dismissing them. I am merely stating the fact that Bush does not have any right to say their accomplishment has to do with him. In times of war, it is a fact that less money is around to support extracurriculars like Olympic-serious teams, and by putting Iraq into a state of war, Bush, if anything, did his best to be sure that they would be *less* likely to succeed.

Saddam is a bastard, I don't disagree. My point was that he and Bush would have used this team for the same reasons, to support their regimes against the will of the world and the will of half this country, respectively. If Iraq wins bronze, it's a testament to the hardiness of the Iraqi people under the pressure of war versus the pressure of torture. Given the events at Abu Gharib, it is beginning to look like the two are not always as clearly defined as they ought to be.

[kimpire.livejournal.com]

Wait, so you're saying that the team is less likely to succeed now that they're actually allowed to participate? *confused*

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

They were only banned as of May 2003. Iraq was represented at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, though apparently by only four athletes. (per this Washington Post article hosted on the website of the organization that, in Dec. 2002, filed the complaint resulting in the sanctions). Absent the war, the IOC probably wouldn't've been able to get the evidence that led to the sanctioning action; previous investigations by other international bodies couldn't find anything.

However, it's a pretty safe bet that Bush has been funding Iraq's participation in the Olympics. That sort of thing looks very Presidential. (I'm assuming that expense was the reason there were only 4 Iraqi athletes at Sydney.) I suppose he can take credit for that, tho personally I'd rather my tax money were spent on, y'know, me. Or even Iraqi plumbing facilities. But I'm definitely very glad they're not being tortured any more.

(Ok, I'll spare you all the rant about gymnastics training and competition practices.)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Thanks Jeff. I couldn't spare time to find that. I was too busy explaining to my cousin why shouting in all capitals in a letter doesn't come across as making a calm point with evidence.

::shakes head:: Floridians...