I admit that I don’t follow football very closely. Here in the U.S., our professional soccer league doesn’t hold a candle to most international leagues in Europe or South America.
I’ve been told that the soccer played in the Olympics isn’t on par with World Cup play (obviously). But I was still intrigued, as many people are, by the story of the Iraq team and their success in this year’s Olympics.
I don’t believe their success is the result of anything Bush did for (or to) Iraq. I don’t believe it’s a political statement. For me, it’s just interesting to hear about a team from a culture that we’ve only heard bits and pieces from. We’ve certainly heard a lot of misinformation, and that makes me wonder about the truth.
Are the players actually from Iraq? Are they better off now in an occupied, war-torn country than they were under Uday Hussein? Are they any good, or have they just been lucky?
First, I looked at the team. They range in age from 20 to 29 (Olympic soccer rules allow each team to have up to three players over age 23). Most of them play with clubs based in Iraq, although some play for clubs in Syria, Egypt, and Qatar. The predominent club is Al Zawra, which is, in fact based in Iraq according to (what else?) IraqiFootball.com
They are understandably angered by the Bush political commercial that implies they are now “free.” In the commercial, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says: “At this Olympics there will be two more free nations � and two fewer terrorist regimes.”
Star player Ahmed Manajid asked “How will (Bush) meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes.” Mid-fielder and team leader Salih Sadir told Sports llustrated, “Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign. He can find another way to advertise himself.”
As an U.S. citizen, I’m upset by Bush trying to squeeze political gain out of an event that is intended to unite people of the world. It’s a shame to see him use a people so brazenly to advance his own career.
So clearly there is no love between the team and Bush’s policy and our miltary presence in Iraq. Understandably so.
Is the team better off? What about the stories of Uday Hussein? Were they overblown? It’s hard to say without talking to the people who were on the team.
According to Global Security,
“Uday… reigned over Iraq’s Olympic Committee. In May 2001, Saad Keis Naoman, an Iraqi soccer player who defected to Europe, reported that he and his teammates were beaten and humiliated at the order of Uday Saddam Hussein for poor performances. He was flogged until his back was bloody, forcing him to sleep on his stomach in the tiny cell in Al-Radwaniya prison in which he was jailed. His account supported allegations made by Sharar Haydar Mohamad Al-Hadithi, a former Iraqi international soccer player, who stated in August 1999 that he and his teammates were tortured on Uday Hussein’s orders for not winning matches. In 2000, three soccer players who played for a team that lost an October game in the Asian Cup quarter finals, reportedly were whipped and detained for 3 days. In 1997, members of the national football team reportedly were beaten and tortured on Uday’s orders because of poor play in a World Cup qualifying match.”
I would hope that the current team doesn’t live under that sort of fear, but is life in an occupied country much better?
Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad puts it this way: “My problems are not with the American people. They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the national stadium and there are shootings on the road?”
We need to take Bush to task for taking credit for freedom where there is none. And yes, this part-time soccer fan will cheer the Iraq soccer team on, and hope they soon have the true freedom they deserve.
Postscript — I really prefer to hear from straight from the source, rather than filtered through the distorted lens of mass media. A good example is the Where is Raed? blog maintained by a Baghdad resident writing under the pen name of Salam Pax. His insights carry much more credibility than that of any foreign report regurgitating the wire services. Anyone have any blog links for any of the past or present Iraq football team?
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