Posted on 07/24/2008 7:50:58 AM PDT by Menelaus
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The International Olympic Committee has banned Iraq from competing in the upcoming Summer Olympics games because of what it says is political interference by the government in sports.
An Iraqi Olympic Committee official said the IOC sent letters in Arabic and English confirming the ban.
The official said the seven Iraqi athletes who were to travel to China for the games in August are disappointed by the decision
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The International Olympic Committee has banned Iraq from competing in the upcoming Summer Olympics games because of what it says is political interference by the government in sports.Haha. Hahahahahahahahaha. If this is the criteria, why isn't China banned?
My first thought exactly. What a frigen joke.
Very sad for the atheletes.
Commie is more "international".
It IS The International Olympic Committee, after all...
Ahh, for the good old days, when Iraq would lose a soccer game and one of Saddam’s idiot sons would torture the players!
And China is so great? Give me a break. Is there a US delegate on the Olympic Committee? How did they vote?
China denied visas to the alternates of the US female gymnist squad and are making them train in Japan and if one of the starters is injuried, they will then have to find some way to fly to Beijing in time to compete. No other alternates from any other event have been denied visas.
All this because the US female squad is favored to win the gold and that is the competition the Chinese are most desperate to win.
Dirty Cheaters.
So the surge worked and Iraq ready to showcase its athletes but the IOC plays political politics itself and bans athletes. What a bunch of elitist, politically correct hypocrites! BTW....are Iranian athletes banned for “political interference by govt. in sports”?
What an outrage and POX on them all at IOC.
So far, they've said no blacks, now no Iraqis..
Don't eat the dog!! Boycott the Olympics!
Seems to me that this is just a way to poke a finger in the eye of Bush and the U.S. The IOC doesn’t want the world to be reminded that, for the first time in decades, FREE Iraqi citizens would be competing in the Olympics.
Probably wouldn’t have happened if there was a Democrat in the White House. Of course, if Gore had won in 2000, Saddam was still be in power, and if Kerry had won in 2004, Iraq might be an al-Qaeda base by now, so the athletes would be welcome in Peking.
And Cuba, No. Korea, and every other communist state.
Communists states don't merely engage in "political interference" in their nations' sports life, they completely control every aspect of it.
“Is there a US delegate on the Olympic Committee?”
If there is, he/she is probably a liberal and/or an ex-Foreign Service type more interested in keeping the international “peace” (and dining out on the nonprofit nickel) than in speaking the truth.
Did I say that out loud? Good!!
Colonel, USAFR
From the article ... “The government said the original committee held meetings without quorums and had officials serving in one-year posts for more than five years. Many of the officials also lived outside of Iraq, the government said.”
It looks like Iraqi government authorities did the right thing.
In other words, this situation smells ...
Why the all-wise, all-fair IOC, of course....all hail the brave leaders.
Maybe Pyonyang, North Korea will make the IOC list next.
That's the core of the matter.
The Chinese bribed their way into getting the Olympics. They don’t deserve them, and no one, including the US, has the balls to tell them so.
They ban Iraq, because of US’s presence there(don’t think it’s ANYTHING other than that). And they site political interference? The only interference I could think of was NOT paying off the IOC with millions.
This stinks to high heaven.
Swine.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
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