Many writers more eloquent than me have or will celebrate the Iraqi soccer (metric football in Taranto parlance) team. Here's two.
First a good humorous and true vision, from Chris Muir:
Then a poignant piece from another fave of mine, Dan Henninger:
Even Howard Dean's heart had to skip a beat when the Iraqi athletes walked in to Santiago Calatrava's magnificent stadium at the Olympics opening ceremony. Boy, did they look happy. Genuinely happy. Compare their elation--reaching toward he crowd, tapping their hearts--with the athletes from Iran or Saudi Arabia, who had that smile-or-disappear look Olympic athletes forlornly wore when they represented the Soviet Union or the "Eastern bloc" nations. In a word, the Iraqis looked free.It occurred to me watching this pageant of superb sportsmen and sportswomen that much the same true freedom of spirit could be seen on the faces of athletes from a list of nations with familiar names--Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Afghanistan, Grenada, Kuwait, South Korea, the former captive nations of Romania, Bulgaria, the Czechs, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania (all holding elections since the early 1990s), and the other former Soviet republics.
These Olympians have one thing in common: They come from the nations the U.S. has liberated since the end of World War II.
The subhead asks "How many nations have free France and free Germany liberated since 1945?"
I'm guessing about the same number of gold medals the Saudi girls' gymnastics team will win this year...
American benevolence continues when it comes to Olympic training of "international" athletes. A large share of the athletes competing and medaling in this Olympics, as in the past, live and train in the "evil empire." Some are naturalized American citizens, but most are simply US college students taught, coached, trained and supported by: "The Anti-France."
Posted by: johngalt at August 23, 2004 01:34 PM