Excellent point. I'm sure this Iraqi soccer player didn't call a press conference to express his indignation. He was set up to elict that response.
Maybe, but no matter the circumstance he can shove this opinion. President Bush is responsible for His freedom, no one has more of a right to take credit for the reality they will not be tortured when they return home.
But of course, the doping scandals and the incredible performances will get old fast, so they must go digging up/leading people into creating stories where there are none.
I could ask any of those players - "if your image was directly used in an ad for George Bush, implying that you supported him, and you found out that some in your country (that may not even be from Iraq) would consider you traitors to Iraq and harass or harm you or your family because of this, would you want your image to be used in that ad"? You can imagine the response would easily be "no, I don't want our image used in ads for George Bush".
"My problems are not with the American people," says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. "They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq.
In fact, Manajid says, if he were not playing soccer he would "for sure" be fighting as part of the resistance. "I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?"
"The war is not secure," says Hamad, 43. "Many people hate America now."