Great idea! or maybe a finger ... ;o)
Posted on 07/24/2008 7:50:58 AM PDT by Menelaus
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The International Olympic Committee has banned Iraq from competing in the upcoming Summer Olympics games because of what it says is political interference by the government in sports.
An Iraqi Olympic Committee official said the IOC sent letters in Arabic and English confirming the ban.
The official said the seven Iraqi athletes who were to travel to China for the games in August are disappointed by the decision
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The International Olympic Committee has banned Iraq from competing in the upcoming Summer Olympics games because of what it says is political interference by the government in sports.Haha. Hahahahahahahahaha. If this is the criteria, why isn't China banned?
My first thought exactly. What a frigen joke.
Very sad for the atheletes.
Commie is more "international".
It IS The International Olympic Committee, after all...
Ahh, for the good old days, when Iraq would lose a soccer game and one of Saddam’s idiot sons would torture the players!
And China is so great? Give me a break. Is there a US delegate on the Olympic Committee? How did they vote?
China denied visas to the alternates of the US female gymnist squad and are making them train in Japan and if one of the starters is injuried, they will then have to find some way to fly to Beijing in time to compete. No other alternates from any other event have been denied visas.
All this because the US female squad is favored to win the gold and that is the competition the Chinese are most desperate to win.
Dirty Cheaters.
So the surge worked and Iraq ready to showcase its athletes but the IOC plays political politics itself and bans athletes. What a bunch of elitist, politically correct hypocrites! BTW....are Iranian athletes banned for “political interference by govt. in sports”?
What an outrage and POX on them all at IOC.
So far, they've said no blacks, now no Iraqis..
Don't eat the dog!! Boycott the Olympics!
Seems to me that this is just a way to poke a finger in the eye of Bush and the U.S. The IOC doesn’t want the world to be reminded that, for the first time in decades, FREE Iraqi citizens would be competing in the Olympics.
Probably wouldn’t have happened if there was a Democrat in the White House. Of course, if Gore had won in 2000, Saddam was still be in power, and if Kerry had won in 2004, Iraq might be an al-Qaeda base by now, so the athletes would be welcome in Peking.
And Cuba, No. Korea, and every other communist state.
Communists states don't merely engage in "political interference" in their nations' sports life, they completely control every aspect of it.
“Is there a US delegate on the Olympic Committee?”
If there is, he/she is probably a liberal and/or an ex-Foreign Service type more interested in keeping the international “peace” (and dining out on the nonprofit nickel) than in speaking the truth.
Did I say that out loud? Good!!
Colonel, USAFR
From the article ... “The government said the original committee held meetings without quorums and had officials serving in one-year posts for more than five years. Many of the officials also lived outside of Iraq, the government said.”
It looks like Iraqi government authorities did the right thing.
In other words, this situation smells ...
Why the all-wise, all-fair IOC, of course....all hail the brave leaders.
Maybe Pyonyang, North Korea will make the IOC list next.
That's the core of the matter.
The Chinese bribed their way into getting the Olympics. They don’t deserve them, and no one, including the US, has the balls to tell them so.
They ban Iraq, because of US’s presence there(don’t think it’s ANYTHING other than that). And they site political interference? The only interference I could think of was NOT paying off the IOC with millions.
This stinks to high heaven.
Swine.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
I wish we’d have the decency to respond by withdrawing the entire US team.
This is just wrong. It’s a slap in the face to what the Olympics is all about. The American athletes should all wear armbands in support of the Iraqi athletes.
The IOC is a bit . . . arbitrary in its decisions, isn’t it?
And Russia, and Cuba, and Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, and North Korea, and Iran, and on and on.
IOC meet UN - you have a lot in common.
I called the White House Comment Line (202-456-1111 and keep pressing “1” when prompted—you will speak to a live person) and told them about his.
I told them the President needs to pick up the phone and ream the IOC and Red China about this—this ban is just sticking as finger in our eye because we freed Iraq and I was furious about it. I said at least Iraqis can compete and now not have to worry about Saddam torturing them when they return to Iraq.
The aide did not know about it and said he would pass it along to the President.
If many more call, maybe we can right this injustice.
“How the hell did the Olypics wind up in China in the first place.”
The Chicoms sent briefcases of money to the right members of the IOC.
Absolutely.
Plus, their decision will be highly motivational for the Iraqi people to try to remain democratic (sarc).
So, President Bush, do you have the balls to tell the IOC that we stand by the Iraqi Olympic Team and will thereby be sitting out this Olympics too? Or are you going to let the IOC through the Iraqis under the bus?
funny...they were allowed to compete when sadaam was in charge...
here’s a story- in the spring of 1972 the IOC twice rejected a bid from a Palestian organization who wanted to send athletes to the games to compete....a PLO operative read about it in a cafe’ in Italy and was so incensed he hatched the plan for the Olympic Munich Massacre later that year...
Time for President Bush to send his regrets to the Olympic Committee’s Opening Ceremonies chairman.
And so....the IOC itself....interjects politics......
10-4 on that!
It’s a calculated snub of Iraq. The country was so much better when Saddam Hussein was running the show!
Not a chance.
It wouldn’t be wise to offend the chicoms.
Next time it won’t just be poisoned dog food and lead contaminated baby toys...
Background:
According to the National Olympic Committee of Iraq, Saddam’s son, Uday Hussein, was in charge of Iraq’s Olympic activities from 1984 until the war began in March of 2003.
http://www.aim.org/briefing/new-iraq-sends-team-to-the-olympics/
Purple thumbs.
Or just stay at home.
Maybe we should just make a free world Olympics. I’m warming up to McCain’s idea that there should be an Alliance of the Free World or something like that.
More to the point, why wasn't Iraq under Saddam and his athlete torturing son banned?
What a FReaking joke. We should tell them, "No Iraq, No US", and hold our own alternate "FRee World Games". We have plenty of facilities that could be pressed into service pretty quickly.
I pay no attention to the Olympics at all. None.
If there ever was an attempt at “one-worldism”, the Olympics is such.
They belong on the ash heap of history.
- John
Campaign contributions to the Clintons were surely a factor.
Ahem....When were the Soviets EVER banned from the Olympics by the IOC.
Bush should threaten to cancel his visit to Beijing and keep the entire American team home unless the IOC reverses course.
This is why I can’t be bothered with the Olympics any more.
You know, if you are going to idiotically charge, like so many here, that President Bush has no balls, could you at least spell "throw" correctly?
Yeah, that is the ticket. Dash the hopes and dreams of the hundreds of U.S. athletes because another country's athletes were banned. For Pete's sake...
Remember that next time we encounter a Chirac, a Schroeder, a Prodi, a Zapatero, a ... within the Alliance of the Free World.
While not specifically applicable to the issue of Olympics, the Cheney-Rice-Rumsfeld concept of COW (Coalition Of the Willing) where countries are free to join as well as leave organizations or "operations" almost any time (due to change of government or "heart") for specific military, political or economic goals, is much more flexible and productive and leads to fewer tensions.
As an aside, Olympics and their coverage by networks have been going downhill for a long time now and have, strangely enough, become more "political" after the fall of Soviet Union and less and less interesting with each one. Could be due to the increasing information from Internet, or more hype not living up to expectations, or possibly just me getting older and not caught up in the hype?
Get a life, bub! Bush has sold us down the road more times than I can count since 2004. The Olympics are a joke anyway, and the U.S. athletes who are going to Beijing should expect nothing less. So why bother.
Well, thank goodness it's not for something silly like, oh, say....human rights violations.
This is horrible. I cried with joy when in the last Olympics the Iraqis could compete freely, without fear of being tortured if they did not bring back a medal. I am very sad that they will not be allowed to compete. Couldn’t we give the few athletes honorary USA citizenship? I’d rather share with Iraqi athletes than all the freeloaders here in L.A.
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