First, the 9/11 Families demanded that the Bush-Cheney campaign not exploit the slaughter of their loved ones in its political advertisements, then the
International Association of Firefighters demanded
that the 9/11-related deaths of NYC firefighters not
be exploited in political advertisements for Bush-Cheney, then the family
of slain WSJ journalist Danny Pearl demanded that VICE
_resident Cheney not exploit Danny's sacrifice for
political gain after a tasteless remark in one of his speeches, and now, the Iraqi soccer team coach has joined the team's already outspoken players in
denouncing the Bush-Cheney campaign's exploitation of their success
for his political gain...What is happening in this
country? This activity is not 527-related. It is official Bush-Cheney campaign activity. Why isn't this extraordinary pattern of
exploitation and rebuke a major story for the "US
mainstream news media"? Well, of course, they are not
interested in providing CONTEXT and CONTINUITY for the
real news...their not so hidden agenda is to save the
Corporatist lock on the White House and the US Senate,
and the media monopoly it enables, at almost any
cost...
Ellie Tzortzi, Reuters: Iraq's Olympic soccer coach
said Monday his side should not be seen as a symbol of
freedom, taking issue with a campaign commercial for
President Bush.
The flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear in a
commercial as part of Bush's drive for re-election in
November. A narrator says: "At this Olympics there
will be two more free nations -- and two fewer
terrorist regimes."
But coach Adnan Hamad said Iraq, still plagued by
violence daily, remained a country under occupation.
"You cannot speak about a team that represents
freedom. We do not have freedom in Iraq, we have an
occupying force. This is one of our most miserable
times," he said.
"Freedom is just a word for the media. We are living in hard times, under occupation."
Break the Corporatist Stranglehold on the "US
Mainstream News Media," Show Up for Democracy on 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/082404X.shtml
Soccer: We're No Symbol of Freedom, Iraq Coach Says
By Ellie Tzortzi
Reuters
Monday 23 August 2004
THESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) - Iraq's Olympic
soccer coach said Monday his side should not be seen
as a symbol of freedom, taking issue with a campaign
commercial for President Bush.
The flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear in a
commercial as part of Bush's drive for re-election in
November. A narrator says: "At this Olympics there
will be two more free nations -- and two fewer
terrorist regimes."
But coach Adnan Hamad said Iraq, still plagued by
violence daily, remained a country under occupation.
"You cannot speak about a team that represents
freedom. We do not have freedom in Iraq, we have an
occupying force. This is one of our most miserable
times," he said.
"Freedom is just a word for the media. We are
living in hard times, under occupation."
The Iraqi men's soccer side has been one of the
surprises of the Olympics, reaching the semifinals of
the competition. They play Paraguay Tuesday for a
place in the final.
But their success has been overshadowed in the
past few days by rows over the commercial for Bush,
who went to war and ousted Iraq's Saddam Hussein last
year.
Although Washington has officially handed power to
an Iraqi interim government, more than 130,000
American soldiers remain in the country, battling with
insurgents from various factions. Western officials
also hold key positions behind the scenes.
"We want to give our people a cause to celebrate,
to forget their problems," Hamad told reporters in the
northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, the venue for
Tuesday's match.
After Sports Illustrated magazine quoted Iraqi
team members expressing outrage at the Bush ad, a
British adviser to the Iraqi Olympic committee accused
journalists of taking advantage of players' naivete
and said sport should not be politicized.
But Hamad said: "One cannot separate politics and
sport because of the situation in the country right
now."
He said the violence which continues to afflict
Iraq, more than a year after Bush declared major
combat there was over, meant the team could not fully
enjoy its success.
"To be honest with you, even our happiness at
winning is not happiness because we are worried about
the problems in Iraq, all the daily problems that our
people face back home, so to tell you the truth, we
are not really happy," he said.
The International Olympic Committee said it had
not been in touch with the Bush campaign about its use
of the Games in the commercial. National Olympic
committees own the rights to the Olympic name and
symbols in their countries, a spokeswoman said.
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