Iraqi Olympians Denounce Bush

Iraqi Olympians denounce Bush8/20/2004 6:30:00 PM GMT


Members of the Iraqi Olympic soccer team denounced Bush.

Source: Ireland On-Line


Members of the Iraqi Olympic soccer team criticized U.S. President George W. Bush over the war in Iraq.

The Iraqi players branded U.S. President George Bush a “criminal” and called for American troops to withdraw from the war-torn country.

Speaking after winning their group stage at the Games in Greece, one player said he would take up arms against U.S. troops in his country.

The Iraqi team has also attacked Mr. Bush for running re-election campaign adverts featuring the Iraqi team.

“Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign,” said midfielder Salih Sadir. “He can find another way to advertise himself.”

Sadir was angered at Mr. Bush’s adverts, which show pictures of the Afghan and Iraqi flags with the words: “At this Olympics there will be two more free nations – and two fewer terrorist regimes.”

“We don’t wish for the presence of Americans in our country. We want them to go away,” said Sadir, aged 21, whose home town of Najaf has been demolished by the war.

Another star player, Ahmed Manajid, aged 22, said of Mr. Bush: “How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes.”

Manajid, from Fallujah, said he would be fighting U.S. troops right now if he were not at the Olympics.

“I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?

“Everyone (in Fallujah) has been labeled a terrorist. These are all lies. Fallujah people are some of the best people in Iraq.”

In an interview with the U.S. magazine Sports Illustrated, the team coach Adnan Hamad spoke of the ongoing violence in his homeland.

“My problems are not with the American people. They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything.

“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?”

A spokesman for Mr. Bush tried to defend the war on Iraq and the campaign adverts, claiming that “the ad simply talks about President Bush’s optimism and how democracy has triumphed over terror,”

The Iraqi soccer team has been one of the sensations of the Games, winning its group, despite a 2-1 defeat to Morocco in its latest game.

The team will go on to play Australia in the quarter-finals on Sunday.



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Further proof the iraqi people do NOT like bush

 

thats what free speech is about.


Now, would they have been able to denounce saddam hussein?

 

Doesn't matter. We don't have the right to impose our will on a country that doesn't want it.

 

we arent. the iraqi governing council hasnt asked us to leave.

care to try again?

 

What does the coalition appointed council have to do with the will of the Iraqi people?

 

when you poll every single iraqi citizen and find out what their will is, get back to me, and then we can talk about the 'will of the iraqi people'. Until then, lets talk about the people in control. The government is representing the country.


You forget that this 'coalition supported council' had unanimous support from the UN security council. The fact is, there will be real elections in that country for the first time in god knows when, and then, we can truly see the 'will of the people.'

we can be ordered to leave at anytime, so until that moment comes, please, spare us the BS about us forcing ourselves on people.

so once again, care to try again?

 

Yep, just shows the new Iraqi Government is going to be like the US government, and do what is in their interests and not the interests of the Iraqi People.

Peace and Love,
Dan

 

how can one reply to speculation?


Let me try. "You're wrong." in five years time, we can see who was right.

 

Lets get real.
The question is not about whether we have a right to be in Iraq. The issue is if we have the military power.
The interim government is just like any government installed by a foreign invader. The common term is a "puppet government."

Whether you think the Iraq invasion is a good or bad thing, it clears the mind to avoid euphamisims and call our being there an invasion and installation of a puppet government.

Whether this is an act of collonialism remains to be seen.

 

LOL yeah I have and idea, why don't we have elections there like we do here, where no matter what the people want the richest most corrupt person will be appointed president anyway! Yippie Yippie!


In five years time, who is going to pay for all of the lives lost, that could have been prevented. You can't bring people back to life, so hey, I know this is a crazy concept, but how about we don't let them die to begin with.

I want to be able to tell everyone I told you so, so bad, but you know what in order for me to be right, more and more American soldiers will have to die, and we will have to keep paying more money to occupy a country and force them to be "little americans". Honestly, I do not want to be right this time.

Mui, thank you for this post.

 

Elections in iraq, by law, have to be completed by january 31st, 2005

You're right, all these american lives could have been prevented if we didnt go. However, the death of iraqis, would have continued.

You know, there are a lot of people who want to say "I told you so." It is very sickening to see people like this(thankfully you dont seem to be one.) People seem to forget that real lives are at stake here. There are those who want so badly to say "i told you so," even at the cost of human lives. While you may not be happy that the US is in iraq, the fact is we are. Everyone should be wishing the US success in iraq, otherwise they wish only death on not only americans, but iraqis. That is a very disgusting thought.

 

The U.S. is controlling Iraq directly now instead of indirectly through Saddam like it was doing in the 80s, back when Rumsfeld was the Special Envoy to Saddam.

al-Jazeera has been shut down in Iraq as well as other newspapers deemed as inciteful. Also, Saddam's TV network has been turned into the Persia News Network (PNN), with lots of programming of Colin Powell, America sports highlights, and plugs for new Hollywood movies.

 

It is indeed sad that there are people dying unjustly under nasty regimes. I think that's very bad. But Saddam wasn't the only one and wasn't the worst one out there. By your logic, we are still guilty of letting all those people die in all the world's other brutal regimes.

Come on dude, you're not a dupe like some of the sporadic neo-con posters. You have to admit that the US occupation has been rather heavy-handed, and could be doing a far better job of its stated goal of improving over Saddam's regime.

I do not know who I wish success for in Iraq, there aren't many likeable sides. I would of course be all for a safe new Iraq nation to rise from the ashes, but the outlook is too cynically grim for that. Even though we are already in Iraq, we shouldn't ignore the fact that our mandate there is pretty damn dubious. And the people responsible for sticking us there in the first place deserve the criticism.

 

Gee, let's see - should I listen to actual Iraqis or some dipshit on the internet who (quite understandably) chooses a jackass to represent herself? Oh dear, I'm so confused.

 

This is a perfect example with which to again highlight the lie of the supposedly "liberal" media in the US.

Out of curiosity at how widely this denunciation has been reported domestically in the press I trauled the classic major outlets and not one had any reference to the comments. Neither too did any major news agency address appear when I made several google searches for Iraqi (and "Iraq) Soccer Team+Bush. Of course, the alternative media references were numerous, but no corporate agency to be found.

The mainstream media is a mouthpiece for the prevailing administration and its corporate advertisers (aka. The Status Quo), it cares neither for the truth (though it may on occassion deign to throw out a tidbit or two to maintain appearances) nor for truly informing the public as the vehicle of scrutiny and public accountability it was intended to be.

Kudos to the fine patriots of the Iraqi Soccer Team for cutting through the election year opportunism and lies to voice the true nature of an illegal conquest and occupation.

 

Wouldn't the not being even participating in the olympics if the US had not gotten rid of Saddam? Sort of ironic.

 

No actually, since it would not have been Iraq which would have decided it couldn't or wouldn't participate. You seem to forget that it is Washington which pressed for and subsequently maintained the isolation of Iraq despite many calls for the lifting of sanctions.

The degredation and unrelenting militancy which three consecutive administrations (2 x Bush + the Clinton intermission) visited upon the country in its bid to set Saddam up as some unique boogeyman (whilst happily continuing business as usual with numerous more corporate friendly (but equally as heinous) dictators) deserves the full and unapologetic condemnation finally given voice by the Iraqi Football Team.

What you should be truly be questioning, if you care so much for truth and accountability, is why not one major US news agency carried the story.

Perhaps one day you might finally come to realise just how long sought after a prize the ultimate neo-colonial control of Iraq has truly been for US big money interests and just how much propaganda and misinformation they have shoveled out to the masses to manipulate public sentiments and consent in support of their inevitable agenda for the country and the region.

Fortunately the Iraqis have demonstrated that they too can be patriotic for their self determination as much as any flag waving warmongering Yank.