I guess they'll hafta get over it in their newly liberated country,
without a Tyrant to step on them anymore .....
Hear the Donkey Bray
(RealPlayer)
[Expletive deleted] !!!
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."
How very crass of them. Maybe in 20 years they will look back at those words in shame. By that time they should have seen what Bush has done for them - a democracy and freedom. A total revolution from the future they had before our soldiers came over there and cleaned things up for them, rebuilt their country, trained their military, supported their growing government and trained them on HOW TO SET UP A DEMOCRACY.
Their children will at least have a chance that they were unable to give them.
What is it with soccer? Everytime I read an article with the word "soccer" in the title, it usually contains the words "trampled", "killed" or "crushed to death".
This is probably several hours old and I proably missed the match... but now, for more than one reason, I hope the Aussies win. And win good.
And if you choose to flame me for that remark, F14, go right ahead. I've heard A LOT of F-111 activity here in Australia (where we had to buy our own airforce, we didn't have one given us by Jimmy Carter) and my guess is, those boys (and girls) are about to be deployed. Maybe to liberate the masses in Iran, maybe to bomb the bejeesus out of North Korea. I don't know. But whining Arabs really get up my nose at this point. I hope the Iraqi soccer team get their arses handed to them on a plate. I've had enough of being politically correct and I just won't do it anymore.
That's strange. Considering that they were being tortured by Uday 2 years ago.
A few points:
1) I agree its very likely that the reporters selctively quoted or mis-represented the Iraqi's here.
2) Doesn't matter - Bush has a right to remind the US that because of *his* resolve, 50 million Iraqi's & Afgani's have a shot at Liberity.
3) America did this - not Iraq. Not to be unkind, but they supplicated themselves to a tyrant for decades. America drove Saddam out, America found him hiding in a rat-hole, and America forced him to submit to a hygeine inspection.
If Bush wants to brag about that, he has EVERY right to. Complaints from Iraqi's on this matter have zero value.
Could be motivation. They looked very sluggish against Morocco this past week and lost 2-1.
Maybe this is an advance. Rather than "trampled, killed or stoned to death", we are now going to hear "whined, complained, bitched",,,that seems to be a forward movement.
This makes me wonder if those people are capable of a democratic society. They will be pawns to any mullah who ginns up their hatred.
"Sadir, Wednesday's goal-scorer, used to be the star player for the professional soccer team in Najaf. In the city in which 20,000 fans used to fill the stadium and chant Sadir's name, U.S. and Iraqi forces have battled loyalists to rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr for the past two weeks. Najaf lies in ruins. [IT DOES?]
"I want the violence and the war to go away from the city," says Sadir, 21. "We don't wish for the presence of Americans in our country. We want them to go away." [From the Iraqi blogs, seems like most want alSadr to leave]
Manajid, 22, who nearly scored his own goal with a driven header on Wednesday, hails from the city of Fallujah. He says coalition forces killed Manajid's cousin, Omar Jabbar al-Aziz, who was fighting as an insurgent, and several of his friends. In fact, Manajid says, if he were not playing soccer he would "for sure" be fighting as part of the resistance." [This explains a lot]
Everyone agrees that Iraq's soccer team is one of the Olympics' most remarkable stories. [And Sports Illustrated had to tarnish the story]
This makes me wonder if those people are capable of a democratic society. They will be pawns to any mullah who ginns up their hatred.
You are talking about the Democratic Party, right? ;)
I guess they'll hafta get over it in their newly liberated country,
without a Tyrant to step on them anymore .....
Hear the Donkey Bray
(RealPlayer)
[Expletive deleted] !!!
THE PING! 
Iraq wins again today! On to the semifinals.
I TOLD YOU! These traitorous bastards will turn on your ass, if you do not shower them with a steady diet of verbal, psychological and physical abuse. I realize now, submerging their heads into a vat of sulfuric acid was a trifle excessive. I know, I know. I got caught up in de moment from time to time. BUT THEY NEED TO LEARN! Do not mess with Uday. Now, I do not even have those little blue pills to help me get boner. THIS IS HELL, BRO-HAM! I tell you, NOT DE SLIGHTEST HINT OF ERECTION! OWWEEE!!! Stop doing that, Shaitan. It hurts like a motha!
(Lucifer jabs Uday in the butt with pitchfork, ordering him to log off of FreeRepublic. Uday returns to his prior task, shoveling feces into the mouth of his younger brother, Qusay.)
Look for a new thread tonight or early tomorrow, where you can cast a ballot for your favorite "Scourge" Internet persona.
-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)
According to Dante, the second circle of Hell was for the Lustful, who are blown about in a great tornado. Uday and Qasay belong at the very least in Circle Seven, Round One (The Violent; boiled in a lake of blood, depth determined by the magnitude of their sins), or one of the bolgias of the Eighth Circle, namely those reserved for Evil Counselors (burning in flames from head to toe) or the Sowers of Discord (chopped to pieces by a demon; chopped up again soon as they heal). Vomiting feces is reserved for Flatterers (also Eighth Circle); I'm sure they have a place of Dis-honor waiting for Baghdad Bob.
Link for team bios and photos: Iraq Soccer Team
Salih Sadir Salih DOB: 21.8.82 Club: Zamalek, Egypt (2004 - ) Caps: 4/0 Previous Club(s): Al-Najaf (1998-2003), Talaba (2003-2004) Info: The talented player from the southern city of Najaf, is one of Iraq’s most gifted individuals, who excelled playing for the Olympic team in the qualifying rounds – his performances compensated for the absence of Nashat Akram in Iraq’s midfield. Before the war, he was named one of the two best players in the 2003-2004 season by an Iraqi FA panel and became a regular in Stange’s Olympic squad making his debut in the 2-1 defeat to Qatar in the former Oman and Perth Glory coach’s first game in charge of Iraq. Salih Sadir was one of Bernd Stange’s favourite players when the German first arrived in Iraq. He scored an important goal in the 1-1 draw with Vietnam in Hanoi that helped Iraq to progress to the second round. He started his playing career with Sha’abiya team Nasour Al-Jumhuriya before joining Al-Najaf where he progressed through the youth ranks under coach Zuhair Khadim. In 1999, he was promoted into the first team by Najih Hemoud and became a regular. Under coach Hemoud, Al-Najaf became one of Iraq’s most entertaining teams with Salih Sadir – and captain Falah Hassan, Abbas Wahoudi, Saeed Muhsin, Ali Hashim and Qasim Jalout. In 2003 after the war, he moved to Talaba where he made several outstanding performances in the Arab Champions’ League – which earned him a move to Egyptian giants Zamalek for next season.
The UGLY AMERICAN syndrome is still with us and will probably last forever, or until we are NO LONGER FREE ourselves.
Those that are willing to give up essential liberty for temporary security deserve NEITHER!!.............Benjamin Franklin (September 11, 1773.)
I wonder if any of the Iraqi blogs have commentd on this ?
Gratitude? You expect us to get praise for being policeman of the world.
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