Posted on 08/20/2004 11:14:15 PM PDT by F14 Pilot
ANGRY at being used by US President George W. Bush in a political broadcast, Iraq Olympic officials today said their athletes had been set up.
Footballers from the war-torn nation reacted furiously when told their country was being used in a campaign ad, calling on Bush to stop using them to win votes.
"Iraq as a team does not want Mr Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," midfielder Salih Sadir told Sports Illustrated magazine.
"He can find another way to advertise himself."
However, the Iraq delegation accused journalists of deliberately provoking an angry response from their players.
"Our purpose is not to politicise the football team in any way," said Mark Clark, a consultant for the Iraqi Olympic Committee.
"It seems the story was engineered."
The flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear in the Bush commercial ahead of the Republican convention later this month. Bush is seeking re-election in November.
A narrator says: "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations - and two fewer terrorist regimes."
Asked to comment, another Iraqi player asked: "How will (Bush) meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes."
But Clark insisted journalists were wrong to take advantage of the athletes.
"It is a little naughty," he said. "The players are not very sophisticated politically, they are a little naive. Whoever posed these questions knew that the reaction would be negative.
"It is possible something was lost in translation. It's a free, new Iraq and the players are entitled to their opinions but we are disappointed."
Iraq's footballers once lived in fear of Uday Hussein, the son of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, who used to beat the soles of their feet or throw them in prison for slip-ups on the pitch.
Under current coach Adnan Hamd, they have defied all odds to reach the quarter-finals at the Athens Olympics, where they will play Australia tonight.
Hamd was quoted as saying: "The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the stadium and there are shootings on the road?"
Clark expressed hope that Iraq could play on without further political waves.
"Any success we ... have here could be beneficial in the broader picture," he said.
"But we are here to play football."
PING!
We didn't kill enough of them. They're still fighting.
At least the Iraqi team isn't going to be tortured....
Well, they ought to express some gratitude for not having to face one Uday after their inevitable Olympic loss... Or are they complaining about lost motivation?
"Iraq's footballers once lived in fear of Uday Hussein, the son of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, who used to beat the soles of their feet or throw them in prison for slip-ups on the pitch."
How quickly some people forget. Speaking of Uday, I have often wondered why we didn't build a giant granite latrine over his and his brother's graves? They weren't soldiers, so it wouldn't violate the precious geneva convention.
How soon some forget .. That or this guy complaining is new to the team
Uhh..Hamad maybe you should take that up with your "foreign fighters", your Bathist dead- enders and your other fellow country men that are doing all the shooting ! Duh!!! Did we "kill enough" ? I don' think so...it was a mistake to let whole companies of Iraqi soldiers to run away only to return to snipe and bomb our troops.
that is true but it's clear the players were baited with false information by the press - the focus of the ad is olympics from past to present and includes the Iraq + Afghani flags, not a focus on the Iraqi soccer team as was suggested to them in the most unflattering of terms (as to induce the desired reaction, which they got). Just the press working overtime, in a all corners of the media or world, they're doing their duty for the Kerry campaign.
Ungrateful b*stards!
I wonder if they really said it...or if a reporter engineering and interpreted what they did say!
THE PING!They are not furious, they are FREE!
Odd, since by the report I heard, the Iraqi team got flown out of Baghdad on American military aircraft to even BE at the Olympics.
The very 'freedom of speech' that they are exercising was given to them by President Bush.
Of course, no comprehension of WHY we would free their country, why our men worked their hearts out to bring them electricity, water, food, and why OUR BLOOD was shed for the ingrates to hate us.
Do those people have any comprehension of love, honor, respect, and the right of a nation to defend itself against a dictator that wants to use WMD?
All I see of them is that they hate. Hate the ones that bring them freedom, laugh when those fighting for their freedom are killed, and that they honor any murdering slime dictator or terrorist.
I am highly disappointed in them and I no longer wish to see the Iraqis win in the Olympics. They can get to work to pay us for the money we spent rebuilding their country and their schools. Let them mount their own tanks to keep the would-be dictators from mowing down their children.
They are lucky Bush was president--if CryBaby Kerry had of been president, they may be getting their feet beaten at this moment. They should count their blessings.
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