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Iraqi Olympic Soccer Team Gives George the Boot
| Source is commondreams.org, so the content is about what you'd expect... |
by Dave Zirin
Sometimes we are reminded that the Olympics can serve as an international platform not only for flag waving and truck commercials, but also resistance. In an incredible piece by Grant Wahl on Sports Illustrated.com, the Iraqi Olympic Soccer team has issued a stinging rebuke to George W. Bush's attempt to use them as election year symbols.
| Damn! Those stinging rebukes... ummm... sting. |
Iraq's soccer squad is perhaps the surprise of the entire Olympics, advancing to this weekend's quarterfinals despite the war and occupation that has gripped their country for the last 17 months. Yet amidst cheers and triumph, they were infuriated to learn that Bush's brain, Karl Rove, had launched campaign ads featuring their Olympic glory as a brilliant by-product of the war on terror. The commercial, subtle as a blowtorch, begins with an image of the Afghani and Iraqi flags with a voice over saying, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."
| As far as I can recall, that's a true statement. Which part isn't? I don't know that I'd call it a "brilliant" by-product, maybe, but I'd certainly call it a happy one... |
Bush has also been exploiting their exploits in stump speeches. Much more comfortable talking sports than foreign policy or stem-cell research, Bush brayed with bravado in Oregon, "The image of the Iraqi soccer team playing in this Olympics, it's fantastic, isn't it? It wouldn't have been free if the United States had not acted."
| Bush's statement is a true statement. The author's statement is a not-true statement. He's still pushing the "Bush is stoopid" line... |
Posted by: Murat 2004-08-23 |
