The Iraqi Olympic Soccer Team Speaks Out

For some reason, it's hard for some people to believe that many Iraqis, despite our pre-emptive invasion and destruction of their country, might be less than pro-American. Understandable relief and jubilation that Saddam and his thugs are no longer in charge do not necessarily translate into a love of the American occupation and by extension, the American people. This just makes a lot of sense from a human point of view. The Iraqis are a proud people with an ancient history. Hmmm...sort of like the Vietnamese.

I doubt Americans would delight very long if foreign occupiers put together a puppet government and destroyed ordinary people's lives, livelihoods and homes. Over a year after the invasion, Iraqis in Baghdad still cannot count on consistent electricity in their homes. How long would we in America last under foreign rule, especially after a scandal like Abu Ghraib, before we got frustrated and organized resistance? This is the situation we now face in Iraq -- where the best and brightest of a nation scorn us and our leaders openly and pledge to fight us. Just the lack of full microwave and cable tv access alone would cripple us as a nation and drive us into the waiting arms of the "freedom fighters". Are you kidding me?

Read the Sports Illustrated story here:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/19/iraq/index.html
Read the columnist's response to the controversy surrounding his story here:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/24/iraq.reax/index.html

In fairness, other stories have highlighted the abuses the team suffered under Uday Hussein's "management" and they seem geniunely glad to play without terror of torture. The problem is getting the full story -- both the good news and the bad news -- in one story.

Comments

[charlie dewitt]

I always knew that Sports Illustrated was a far-left, anti-American publication. Talk about an occupation is hardly coherent now that Iraq is an entirely sovereign nation with elections scheduled. Perhaps next time the reporter could interview a Kurd or someone from any region in Iraq other than Fallujah or Najaf where extreme militants are clinging to violence at the expense of their nation.