Iraqi Olympic Football Player

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Just saw on the news, one of the Iraqi football players in Athens says that if he wasn't in the Olypmic team, he would be in Iraq shooting American soldiers.

Funny thing is, he doesn't say what the mechanism is by which he will not be tortured if (and likely when) his team loses and goes back to Iraq.

Seems he has forgotten the name Uday, and how that name ceases to be of importance in his life.

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@ Karlos

So do you think it was appropriate for an Olympic contestant to make comments like that?

Does that mean that an American contestant (who may have lost a relative in Iraq) can go on TV and say that if he wasn't in the Games he would be in Najaf shooting Iraqi trouble-makers?

Oh, all of a sudden its not so appropriate.

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@ Karlos:

Oh, so I must not have interpretted your first reply properly then.

You said "..but you don't know a thing about this individual or what he has seen and experienced, both before and after the invasion."

What is the inference in that remark? That the individual is justified in making that comment, or that he is not justified?  
Your last comment of "..I don't think it was appropriate at all.." doesn't seem to fit your original statement: or have I misunderstood again?

And yes, I do think it is especially inapproriate for him to have made that comment in view of the fact that the standpoint he used to make that remark was not one that he would have had easy access to or indeed could have enjoyed to quite the extent he is at the moment, had it not been for the removal of those who would punish him for poor performance.
Unless you are insinuating that the 'token' government and/or the US forces intend to torture him just the same when he gets back, because you claim that one evil has been substituted for another?

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@ Karlos


My view is that there were arguably negative and positive consequences of the coalition action in Iraq. One of the undisputed benefits was that this particular player could safely go to the Games, participate in them AND SAFELY GO BACK to Iraq. This was never an option for him before. So yes, I find it at the very least a churlish comment that he would stand there in his sports clothes at the Games and say that if he wasn't there he would be at home shooting Americans.
You mention Abu Graib: well that relates to the abuse of prisoners of war and unless this footballer is a POW on a pass I think he'll be okay when he gets back. The other thing to remember is that the atrocities are not one-sided there. American contractors, civilians, just doing their jobs and not having any military role whatsoever have been beheaded in Iraq. So what I'm trying to tell you is that both Iraqis and Americans have suffered in Iraq, but if you look at the overall intent and attitude that the coalition forces have towards Iraqi civilians, I find it unacceptable that one of their civilians uses the Games as a platform to state that he would have been back home shooting Americans when it is the coalition forces who have made it possible for him and many other Iraqi civilians to enjoy some of these very basic freedoms for the first time.


"..I'm sorry if you find these views offensive..."

No, my mate, I am not offended, we are just having a conversation and it is clear that we have different views, that's all. And I don't think either one of us is going to bring the other around to his way of thinking.


 

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lol @ keen photographer

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@ Kevin Spacey

Unfortunately I saw it on the news here in London, not on the net. Don't know if there is a link. I'll try to find one...

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That report by Grant Wahl is certainly easier to swallow than the one I saw, which mentioned 'shooting Americans' specifically.
I don't think it is covered on the Net, it was a TV interview. I saw it on Channel 5, if that helps.

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@ Donny

This isn't a freedom of speech issue. I'm not annoyed by the fact that he said something in public: if he had been down at the local train station and pulled out a bullhorn and started yelling that he hates Bush and wishes Bush was dead, that's a different matter.
What I didn't like is the fact that this dude used his position as an Olympic athlete to make a statement to the effect that if he wasn't in the Games he would be at home shooting Americans, the same Americans that have facilitated his appearance and safe return from the Games.

Do you see the difference? It's more of an issue about the context in which he said it, not the plain fact that he said it alone.