Posted by gelfen
with the pages and pages of commentary and argument in the Other bad news from Iraq thread, i thought i might share this opinion piece by noted right-wing columnist Andrew Bolt from Melbourne daily newspaper The Herald Sun
Our gift of liberty
Those who condemned our part in the Iraq war should watch the Olympic opening ceremony. They'll see the fruits of our determination.
28apr04
THERE'LL be a moment in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics that may finally shame the "peace" activists who jeer that we were wicked to help liberate Iraq.
A voice will say "Iraq!" and in will march a small team of athletes under the new white, blue and yellow flag of their freed nation.
And at that moment, many Australians will feel proud that we helped to give these athletes their liberty. They are free, and this was, in part, our nation's doing.
But other Australians should feel ashamed.
They'll see the Iraqis and know these athletes have nothing to thank them for -- certainly not their liberty.
Last week, the president of Iraq's National Olympics Committee, Ahmed al-Sammarai, gave a radio interview that, being inspiring news from Iraq, got as little attention as you'd expect.
Al-Sammarai was a member of Iraq's basketball team and a general in Saddam's army before he defected in 1983.
Last year, after we helped to topple Saddam, he was one of the nearly two million refugees who returned; and in February, he was elected head of Iraq's new National Olympic Committee. Yes, elected -- even that little step is a miracle, given Iraq's savage past.
Before the war, the Olympic program was run by Saddam's son, Uday, a psychopath who killed or tortured athletes who displeased him.
Athletes have told how they were beaten, jailed or endured their toenails being ripped out if they did badly. Soccer players who'd missed a penalty would be made to kick a rock.
It was worse for female athletes, al-Sammarai said last week.
"He abused them, raped some of those athletes. That (made) all the families in Iraq keep their daughters from going to join the sports events -- because of Uday.
"We look at the women's sports (today) and we have to start from zero."
But in the new Iraq, Uday is dead and al-Sammarai is elected in his place.
"We will not forget the painful past and will not allow what happened to be repeated," he said after the historic vote -- one of the first democratic ballots in Iraq for a national position.
"We will build swimming pools and stadiums in place of prisons and torture chambers . . . a free Iraq has arrived."
One of al-Sammarai's challenges has been to make his athletes live like free men and women again -- and perform like them.
"They used to practise and participate in sporting events in fear," he said.
"We immediately tried to give them their confidence -- to let them feel they are human beings. They are free -- free to practise as they want, to object if something is wrong."
Freedom is a different world. Too many of us forget. Or never knew.
Now, months later and despite all the headlines about revolts and savagery in Iraq, al-Sammarai has retained his idealism and his hope in a free Iraq.
He told the US National Public Radio last week that sport could unify a country that so badly needed it.
"Now with the Iraqi media, we have 126 daily newspapers in Baghdad alone, and most of the people are looking for the sports page to get the news about the teams and the participation in Athens.
"Sports gives the hope and gives the unity to society, and so we are (trying) to bring the Iraq society together through sport."
So many newspapers: another sign of the freedom we helped to bring to Iraq. And here's another: one of the first two Iraqi athletes to be chosen for Athens is a woman, sprinter Al'aa Hitkmet.
And there are gestures of friendship through sport that give hope, too -- like the $16 million the United States gave last month for Iraqi sports, or the American boxer who trains Olympic hopefuls in Baghdad.
Iraq has only won a single medal at the Olympics -- a bronze for weightlifting in 1960 -- and so al-Sammarai doesn't expect many wins in Athens. Except this one: "To let all the nations and all the world see the Iraqi flag and the Iraqi delegations marching as a new Iraq, full of freedom and democracy."
Or as middleweight boxer Zuhair Khudhair told Sports Illustrated last month: "We really are back. We're back to freedom, back to the world, back to living."
And we helped give them this -- Australia, with its gallant soldiers, sailors and airmen, and its aid workers and civilian experts, too. Australia, with its fierce love of fair play and its contempt for thugs and bullies.
I know this has been a shiny-eyed story about mere sports, as terrorists meanwhile try to blast Iraq back into chaos or worse.
I'm not saying Iraq isn't in a bloody fight for its future. But consider how much that is good in this one story would never have happened had we and our allies never gone to war in Iraq. Had our "peace" activists "won".
Without this war, al-Sammarai and two million other Iraqis would not have dared go home. Uday would still torture and rape Iraqi athletes. Iraq's Olympians would perform in fear. Parents would not dare let their girls play top sport. Iraqis would not read of their team's deeds in free newspapers. National officials would not be elected in free ballots. And no Iraqi would dare praise freedom.
So when Iraq's team marches into the stadium in Athens, home of the Games, in August, we'll share in this triumph. We'll share, likewise, in the joy of the Afghan team, back after we helped to drive out the Taliban -- the despots who banned women from playing sport and had their country kicked out of the Sydney Games.
All this we can celebrate in Athens. Those of us, that is, who didn't fight so dishonorably against the liberation of these people, and against the free Iraq that people like Ahmed al-Sammarai are determined to build. I'll be cheering. I hope you can, as well.
_________________
Gee, does that beat me? I only got two pair - two aces, and another two.
[ This Message was edited by: gelfen on 2004-04-30 05:05 ]
Posted by Dj Boyi
Now this is the kind of news we like to hear,just a shame we have to hear it on an internet forum,and not PRIMETIME NEWS! Thx for that gelfen,i will be watching it too :-) Btw,when does it all start? :-D
Posted by gelfen
as the man said "being inspiring news from Iraq, (it) got as little attention as you'd expect."
Athens Olympics run from 13th to 29th August (105 days).
Posted by axxxr
All this does'nt mean that this illegle war was justified!...Just coz iraq has a new flag now and a new government does'nt mean anything..Innocent iraqis are still hostages in there own land All who have invaded it i.e America-U.K-Australia have killed 1000's of innocents in there own country the iraq ppl will never forgive and forget..Ask the majority of Iraqi ppl and they will tell u that they want the foreigners out who have come to take control of there oil.
The Americans and all who follow there lead have no understand how the Arab world functions and until and unless they do they will never be able to stop this so called war on terror.Lets face it majority of westerners have a very racist outlook on on Arabs and muslims and see them as a backward religion and a backward race of ppl.So why now suddenly help them?..The fact is of the matter is the west just wants to illiminate Islam from the world coz they see Islam as a theat to the western way of life!.But that of course this is having the opposite affect.Coz U can never overcome anything by suppressing it.
And things will only get worse before they get better.
Posted by anish
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@axxxr
Westeners have a racist outlook on Arabs and muslims? So what do you think about the Islamic attitude of westners are pigs and islam is the only tru religion is that not racist. What about the islamic attitude of wanting a country of their own where ever they go is that very tolerating? Look what is happening in Thailand every one in the world knows the buddhists are very peace loving people and the minority muslims in thailand now wants a country of there own, divide the country and impose islamic law everything will be solved. Now they (the muslims) will see to it that the whole economy of thailand which is based on tourism is destroyed and people strat living in abjuct poverty an then they will be happy.
Of course the west see islam as a threat to the western way of life becuase we don't wan't our wives and girlfriends clad in black burka and that someone telling us having a cold beer is the worst sin in the world while its ok to fly planes in to buildings. I hope after living in london you don't want to live like that.
PS:That idiot Abu hamsa is all against west and UK and stil he is fighting deportation strange isn't it Why can't he go and live in a muslim country?
EDIT: I know you might not reply as you did in th other thread about Iraq but had to say these things
_________________
Knowledge is two fold. Knowing a subject or knowing where to find out about a subject. I rely on both... That is why I come here.
[ This Message was edited by: anish on 2004-04-30 14:21 ]
Posted by axxxr
Listen Anish...
You have a very stereotypical view on Islam..I dont blame u coz i presume u r a hindu and hindus have for centurys been against Islam and there even today a constant war against the two faiths!..The views which u have against Islam are not uncommon in the west..we have to live with it everyday of our lives and learn to live live with it.
But your comments on Muslims flying planes into buildings and women wearing black veils that is not Islam just because a few ignoarant ppl choose to view things there way!..If u actaully study islam u will find that True Islam is a very peace loving and Tolerant faith.But my point is that there are extremists in every religion...Im sure u have in Hunduism..Who go around mass murdering in the name whichever god is there choose to follow coz in hinduism there are so many different gods.Look back in history and The Christian Catholics murderded Millions of ppl around the world all in the name of Christ..Do u think Christ would have wanted that?So dont go around saying that only muslim do this...Its a very very small minority of Ignorant ppl who choose to hijack a peace loving religion like Islam and use it for there own gain...Going back to my original point to which u were so offensive to Islam,The west Did'nt Invade Iraq to Liberate the ppl but take control of the ppl and there Oil..Anish dont go around labeling Every muslim as a terrorist ..Islam is the worlds fastest growing religion according to the U.N and it is Officially the fasted growing relgion in the U.S and the U.K so i dont think all these millions of muslims will take to kindly to your comments.
Posted by anish
First of all for your kind information I am not a Hindu and it was the muslims kings from afgan who came and invaded India in the past so much for the peace loving religion. Yes my views are sterotypical why becasue the rest of the world thinks the same. Now you saying wearing a black veil is not islamic then why is it compulsory for even tourists in the so called islamic country of saudi arabia or in the previous taliban regime? Why is it that its not allowed to take a bible to Saudi arabia? that is very tolerent. I agree there are normal people among muslims but teh majority are fanatics do you wan't pictures of msulims (whole streets) firing crackers enjoying the septemeber 11th.
and the fastest growing religion dosen't mean the best does it? then what about the biggest religion why don't you think it as the best? And about your fellow muslims not taking my comments lightly
SHOULD I BE SCARED?
Posted by axxxr
You have a very narrow minded perception of matters in the world..As far as saudia Arabia is concerned every muslim country has a there own way of practicing the Islamic..Not all mulsim countries practice islam at an extreme.Its all in the interpetation.Just as some jews are more radical than others.U keep on refereing to muslims who celebrate death and destruction,The only only ppl who celebrated sep 11 were some already oppressed ppl on occupied palestine..They had a reason to celebrate..American policies and Ameican made weapons have been used against them for the last 50 years or so.The vast majority of the Muslim world condemed the attack.U cannot blame the intire muslim race for actions of a few!.Its like me saying all the Irish ppl are terrorists coz the IRA were.I as a proud muslim am proud of my faith and would like to live with peace and respect with other faiths in the world..Most of my friends are jewish and catholics and even hindu.for that matter all my friends respect me for who i am and respect me for the religion i practice.By talking down someones else religion when u know absolutely nothing about the faith doesnt doesnt do anyone any good!. learn to respect and u shall in turn get respect.
Posted by Vlammetje
Guys.... may I respectfully ask you both to continue your disagreement in PM's... as I am most interested to read about iraqi athletes feeling hopeful about their future and not at all in reading your viewpoints on the cause and blame of all the hatred in the world.
Posted by axxxr
Yes vlam your right i agree!!
Posted by Sammy_boy
I suspect that the Muslims that celebrated the 9/11 bombings and all those fundamentalists got all the press coverage, correct me if I'm wrong @axxxr, but most Muslims were probably as outraged as the rest of us at what happened?
The press has this nasty habit of concentrating on the bad things that go on in the world, and this minority get all the media coverage and this turns non-muslims against muslims by making them think that all are the same. And I have to admit I sometimes find myself thinking that myself, I see someone who's obviously a muslim and for a brief second find myself thinking 'I bet he wants to bomb westerners', or 'I wonder if he sympathises with Al-Quieda?' Then I take a step back and think rationally that I'm pre-judging that person just because of his religion, and tell myself off! It's very easy to be swayed by press reports and sensationalism - just look at all the rubbish printed in the UK tabloid press (if you live in the UK) on asylum seekers and the trouble that's causing!
That furore about US soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners is also going to cause trouble, more violence in Iraq, and more sympathy for the muslim extremists. I have to admit there are times when I really don't like the US myself - the way their culture, even though it is a mighty fine one when you look at it, apart from being a bit 'gung-ho' seems to pervade everyone's lives globally in media, products, marketing and branding. Then again, I find myself thinking is all the trendy 'anti-America' crap that's out there changing people's opinions also? Although they really aren't helping themselves there really, they keep shooting themselves in the foot PR wise.....
What they stand for is certainly admirable, but they really should leave well alone where they're not wanted. Whilst doing nothing is not an option (see my signature!), surely all these invasions and wars only create more sympathy for what civilisation is fighting?
Anyway, isn't this off-topic, the title of the thread was 'a little good news from Iraq', wasn't it?
Posted by axxxr
Very well put sammy-boy..Nice to know someone has a rational and sensible view on the matter!!
Posted by Sammy_boy
Thanks @axxxr!
One other thing (sorry it's still a bit off topic!) - I've just heard on the TV that theres a 'reality' TV gameshow in the US where 5 couple could win a BABY!
They don't really help their own case, really! Are things like the above one of the reasons why the US is so unpopular in the world? It's a shame, as the USA has so much good going for it. And my main worry is that the UK is following them down this same road to hell/perdition/etc. etc. Where will it all end?
I daren't think about that too hard.....
Posted by kimcheeboi
well japan has a tv show where women volunteer to wear a bikini and get scalding water poured on them so their company gets extra commercial time. People pay to see women get degraded on live TV!
The U.s. isnt the only ones doing stupid things.
And you know, its not good to bash on the USA because of George Bush. He was elected with less than half of the popular vote, AND Al Gore got more votes than George Bush. I despise our president personally because he acts like he's God's gift to the world. Talk about pompous!
Posted by axxxr
I can't believe that win a baby game show!!...that is pure sick!!..not to say that what they do in japan is any better!!!
I dont think that the republicans will ever do americans any good in the world,We need a democrat leader all the way!!
Posted by kimcheeboi
funny thing is republicans (well conservatives) have never really done much to better society, although thats what they preach.
Posted by gelfen
great threadjacking there people.
well since it was my thread, i think i have a right of reply....
i just knew that someone would take my post and go on about "illegal war", and western racism, and every other over-generalisation and under the sun. absolutely anything to deny the positives. while the current situation in iraq may not be ideal, it seems to me a damn site better than what was there before.
btw - if anyone can find me a "legal" war i would be most interested.
note also that as iraq moves closer to self-rule, the shi'ites escalate their actions. i hope that irony is not lost on anyone.
58 days to Iraqi sovereignty and counting down.
First democratic elections in over 20 years expected in Jan 2005.
and for the record - my opions on muslims are based on personal experience, not prejudice, having lived and worked in an area with a large muslim population for 6 years. i agree the majority of muslims are decent people, but they can also be an insular group with little inclination to associate with others. i would also like to say that the racism i have personally observed on the part (a minority) of muslims far exceeds anything else in my experience. i have seen a gang of ten ten-year-old lebanese muslims attack a pair of ten-year-old lebanese catholics for being "traitors" while the parents watched on, smiling, and did NOTHING. having said that, one of my best friends at university was a turkish muslim who was absolutely disgusted by the conduct of such people.
however, one of my biggest problems is that too many muslims are altogether far too quiet when it comes to publicly condemning the extremists.
now i've got that off my chest i would like to get back on topic and point to two things i found on the net.
firstly, an article by Sports Illustrated in March 2003 detailing the depravity of Uday Hussein:
Son of Saddam
secondly, perhaps the most inspiring website i have ever seen (from a country that until a few months ago had no such thing as free media or internet access):
Iraqi Sports Online: The New Generation
_________________
Gee, does that beat me? I only got two pair - two aces, and another two.
Check this out - it's a cracker!
[ This Message was edited by: gelfen on 2004-05-04 07:48 ]
Posted by anish
@Gelfen
Sorry about this thread jacking but my previous responses had some replies which I would wish to answer and I don't want to open anotehr thread for that. If you want me to remove this post please PM me and I will edit/delete it.
@axxr
I presume you think I hate all Muslims which is wrong as I said in the previous thread I am from a country which has the second highest population of Muslims in the world and have lots of Muslim friends but you are right in assuming that I hate most of the muslim ideologies, I had a very good friend from Saudi and once he invited me for dinner at his home and can you believe, while he was a very nice person his wife was not even allowed to come and see me, to be honest I felt sorry for that lady thinking that she has to live like that for her whole life. Now about you saying Islam is interpreted differently in different countries, I don’t understand that because some of the Islamic ‘scholars’ I have talked to have told me that Quran is not open to interpretation and you can’t even change an ‘arif’. Was I informed wrong? And another reason for my anger is, might be because of the publicity they are getting, the views of the radicals in Islam is highly irritating. Would you wonder if some one is angry against Islam after seeing the arrogant way in which people like Abu Hamsa talk in the tele? I agree he may be a minority but then the issue is like Gelfen said above moderate muslims are far too quiet when it comes to publicly condemning the extremists, this gives a notion that all are supporting him. Also I always try to see what the young Muslims in UK think of the rest of the world and its quite easy in Manchester because most of the taxi drivers are muslims just start a chat being neutral about iraq or palestine and you can see how much hatred they have against the western world may be they are brain washed I don’t know. Also I have seen muslims find it hard to integrate with the society they are living in I don’t know why? Again yesterday a Palestinian suicide bomber killed a lady and her 4 kids why them why couldn’t they kill the soldiers who are always in Palestine destroying their cities and do you wonder why world opinion is against them? So now you can see I don’t hate Muslims and for that matter any one but I am against these radical ideologies and I always feel its important to raise my voice against it and I have done that when Hindus killed Muslims in a riot in India last year.
@Vlammetje
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I didn’t know that we should talk about topics, which you are interested in 
, or are you a moderator now? (I was away a few days so might have missed that) Sorry if I offended you by raising my opinion in a public forum
Posted by Vlammetje
Thanks for using my response for such a lame reply. So let me take the time to spell it out completely for you then: there have been, still are and no doubt WILL BE countless threads on everybody's views of the situation in the world, the Israeli conflict, terrorism in any way, the situation in Iraq and whether or not this war should have taken place. I know coz I've taken the time to respond in a few.
THIS thread however, is not about any such thing. It's about normal Iraqi citizens, the only ones whose voices nobody hears, hoping for the future.
Now it seems that a policy of this board is to keep threads more or less on topic so it's sort of clear what discussions are going on where. (admitted...... most threads seem to be not very topical at all these days)
And as much as I am interested in everybody's opinion on anything and everything, i can't say I'm all that cheerfull about running into the same arguments by (more or less) the same ppl in yet another thread.
In other words, I meant to say BACK TO TOPIC PLEASE!!!
I hope this is all a bit clearer to you now.
Posted by anish
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@Vlammetje
I always wonder why you are so patronising in all your posts the above are only a few examples.
And why all these shouting (big bold capital letters) we all can hear you loud and clear. I personally think you have a serious attitude problem.
You didn't like me replying in this thread but you still chose this thread to reply to me instead of PM . Practise before you preach
Posted by axxxr
Anish i will respond to your post in pm coz its best if stay on the topic thread!..And disuss the postives in Iraq as Gelfin said!!
Posted by Sammy_boy
I've just started off a new thread called 'The Gulf War 2 Thread - Anything Goes (almost)', where people can debate whatever they want without threadjacking anyone else's thread!
@gelfen - apologies, I think I'm guilty of threadjacking here also with some previous posts - sorry!
It is good news about the Iraqi atheletes anyway, I wish them all the best in the Olympics, and it would be really nice to see them win at least one medal, and show the world how far they have come already since the fall of Saddam.
Posted by tranquil
OK, lets cotinue here.
Please stick to the bases of the topic this time.
_________________
Tranquil
The proud owner of a black P800!
Esato Shop
[ This Message was edited by: tranquil on 2004-05-05 05:58 ]