"Bombs will not deter us from supporting our country's Soccer Team!
For a short moment in time, there were cheers of Joy in Iraq's streets. #
But despite the win which placed them in the Tournament's final, and the Militant attacks on fans, which shortly followed...#
The Iraqi team (comprised of rival ethnic and religious factions)
Have already built a team of UNITY... Full story
Sports Illustrated reveals Iraq's Sport history:
Iraq's Olympic program, headed by Saddam's son, Uday; was filled with
Torture and murder of athletes who failed to win
Article excerpt:
"Uday was handed the reins of both the country's Olympic committee and its soccer federation, In fact Iraq, once an Asian sports force that sent 46 athletes to the 1980 Summer Olympics, now rivals Liechtenstein in terms of athletic insignificance. Iraq sent just four athletes to the 2000 Games in Sydney...Saddam's Sportsmanship: Issam Thamer al-Diwan, a former Iraqi volleyball player who now lives in the United States and carries a list of 52 athletes he claims have been murdered by the Hussein family...
"People don't want to play because they are afraid to lose," says Sabah Mohammed, Iraq's former national basketball coach, who fled to London in 1999 and claims that nine members of his wife's family have been executed by the Hussein regime. "Can you blame them? No one wants to speak out against Uday."...(Problem solved!)
