Iraq Refuse to Wear Black Arm Bands in Bronze Medal Match

[blitzen]

http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=25697


"Iraq's footballers have refused to join their Olympic bronze medal opponents Italy in donning black armbands as a mark of respect for murdered Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni.

The reporter was executed by an Islamic group in Baghdad on Thursday in an act widely condemned throughout the world.

Iraq and Italy meet in Salonika later Friday for the bronze medal but Iraqi coach Adnan Hamd said that his team will not wear black armbands although he said he respected the Italians' wishes.

'We will not be wearing black armbands. The Italians will be and we respect their choice,' Hamd told AFP.

'We regret the death of the Italian journalist but it's necessary also to think of the hundreds of Iraqis who have died each day during resistance to the occupation.'"



One must admit the Iraqi players do have a point: they would have to don tens of thousands of armbands to honor the innocent Iraqis killed as a result of Bush's folly.

[babylon_system]

1. The Olympics is about glorifying nationalism

One Italian is worth more to the Italian team than thousands of dead Iraqis.
Just as Americans wail and gnash their teeth for every dead Marine but remain remarkably stoic in the face of thousands of dead Arab women and children.

[jdj]

3. okay, I am now putting quotations around this SPAM

"little perspective for your weekend musings…

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January.....

In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq." (from spam posted in GD)

Most people really don't care, unless it is THEIR child.

EDIT: hope that makes my point clearer

[shrike]

6. Detroit has over a million people

while american troops number roughly 130,000-140,000. Not a legit comparison whatsoever.

[trotsky]

7. Exactly.

That Hannity/Limbaugh/RW nonsense doesn't fly here.

[jdj]

8. I know, it's spam that repukes are passing around over and over

This is about the third time I've seen it in a year.

I posted this excerpt because of the nonchalant attitude of the writer, which I found disgusting, beginning with the phrase "weekend musings" in the first sentence. That about says it all for how much people, especially conservatives, care about what is going on in Iraq.

[louis-t]

22. Repukes constantly rationalizing

'cause that's all they have.

[markses]

12. More on the Detroit Comparison

In 2003, 361 people were murdered in Detroit. Earlier this year, there was some alarm that the rate had increased at a dramatic 50%, which could lead Detroit to have its highest murder count since 1994 (another Bush accomplishment, by the way!); estimates, given the trend, are at 500 for the year. So let's go with that number. Let's say there are 500 murders in Detroit this year.

Currently, 432 coailtion troops have been killed in hostile fire this year in Iraq. Let's subtract all coalition casualties (39), even though some of these were nonhostile, just for the sake of argument. We're left with 393 American troops killed by hostile fire in Iraq since January 1. Now let's do the math, taking into account the variant populations of US troops in Iraq, which we'll hold at a steady 140,000 (we're not even distinguishing between those in high combat and low combat areas, by the way), and the population of Detroit, at 951,270.

So:

393/140,000 = X/951,270

X = 2670

So, in order for Detroit to be more dangerous for Americans than Iraq, its murder rate - even after the dramatic increase to 500 in the year - would have to increase 5 times. And we're even lowballing the Iraq KIA rate and highballing the Detroit homicide rate! Oh, yeah, and it is only August. Whatever hostile deaths occur between now and the end of December in Iraq will only increase this proportion. It seems to me that the comparison is pretty much worthless, unless you want to indicate that even the most dangerous cities in America, even experiencing a dramatic rise in its crime rate (thanks for the tax cuts and unemployment, "Presidenmt" Bush!), are 5, 6, or 7 times safer than being a US troop in Iraq. If that's the point, then I agree!

Perspective, indeed!


SOURCES

Detroit Population:
http://detroit.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

Detroit Murder Rate Figures:
http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0404/08/a02-116786.ht...

Hostile and Non-Hostile Coalition Deaths in Iraq
http://icasualties.org/oif/Timelines.aspx

Total Coalition Casualties, by Month:
http://icasualties.org/oif /

Basic Mathematics:
6th Grade, New York City Public School

[jdj]

15. I wish I had never posted that now.

I read the other thread and cut and pasted the debunk, what I was going for, was the tone of the spam (because I was an english major), and I suck at math.

phrases like "weekend musings" "fair city" etc etc, It's just disgusting people can actually use words like this when talking about our troops dying. It shows they have no personal connection to the tragedy.

I'm assuming from this that I am one of the few here that scored a 400 on math on the SAT. Twice. So I didn't bother to do the math, because I assume all spam is generally full of shit.

But the tone of this one is almost sociopathic, especially for folks that brag about "supporting our troops" ad nauseum. I guess I am the only one that noticed the tone.

[jdj]

2. That's gonna be one hell of a game.

It is so sad, if the Iraqi team did decide to wear black armbands every single game, it would make a point.

[Worst Username Ever]

4. This says it all

From the horsed mouth, how they view us:

"'We regret the death of the Italian journalist but it's necessary also to think of the hundreds of Iraqis who have died each day during resistance to the occupation.'"

Nice work, Bushie.

[IndianaGreen]

5. Iraqis are showing that they were toughened by wars and sanctions

and that they are not going to take any crap from anyone. They make an excellent point: the murder of an innocent Italian newsman, while regrettable, pales in comparison to the deaths of thousands of Iraqis at the hands of Saddam, Iran, the British, and the US.

The main thing is that Iraqis are still united as a country.

[daleo]

11. And aren't the Italians one of the countries with troops in Iraq?

It takes a fair bit of nerve to help invade a country, then expect citizens of that country to mourn the death of one of your citizens (even if it was a journalist rather than a combatant).

According to this site, there are 2700 Italian troops in Iraq.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm

On edit: I don't know anything about the site, just used it to get the number of Italian troops in Iraq.

[jdj]

13. Is there any reliable source for noncombatant casualties in Iraq?

because I'm sure alot more children have been killed than journalists.

[leftchick]

17. 37,000 Iraqis dead .....Since the invasion

I read an article a few weeks ago that gave that number and it seemed to be well researched. I will see if I can find the article and post it.

[cmf]

9. They have an excellent point

I think it was fairly presumptuous for the Italians to even ask them to do so.

[jdj]

10. No shit. Abominable.

I'd say sure, if all the olympic rings everywhere are painted black.

[cmf]

14. Wait a minute....

Other news agencies are reporting that they will wear the armbands:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/08/27/sports1005EDT0326.DTL

Iraq and Italy to wear black armbands in honor of slain journalist

08-27) 07:05 PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) --

Iraqi and Italian soccer players planned to wear black armbands on their uniforms during their Olympic bronze medal game Friday in honor of an Italian journalist killed in Iraq.

The International Olympic Committee approved Iraq's request and Italy's delegation was proposing that all its athletes be allowed to wear the armbands Friday.

"We hope the pain will unite us," said Italian Olympic Committee spokesman Massimo Fabricini. Italian athletes were also competing Friday in water polo, volleyball and basketball.

[blitzen]

16. not sure which story is right...

maybe everyone assumed the iraqis would wear them, but forgot to ask the iraqis....

or maybe the turkish press got it wrong?

[Ms. Clio]

19. Someone must have reminded them that Usay wasn't the only evil bastard

who could torture Iraqi athletes.

[Barkley]

18. I completely agree with Adnan Hamd and I hope they win.

The Iraqi team would look completely idiotic wearing black armbands while Iraqi civilians are dying daily from an occupation that Italy is supporting.

Wearing black armbands implies the Iraqis are somewhat responsible for the Islamic group in Baghdad that killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni.

The West would like Iraqis to wear armbands it because it says "see we're different Muslims" while ignoring the suffering of their very own people.

Its analogous to the "Boss We Sick" mentality that slave owners taught blacks: to identify with their master's illnesses while completely ignoring their very own oppression and suffering from slavery.

Completely disgusting!

While 2 million Italians did demonstrate against the
war in Rome the protest was directed at the Italian
government's policy of participating in an pre-emptive
war policy.

Good Luck Iraqis!

[donsu]

20. I agree

nt

[leftchick]

21. They are playing right now....

The Iraqis are not wearing the arm bands....

[Ms. Clio]

23. Good for them

I do wonder what is going to happen to them after the Olympics, though.

What sort of future does any Iraqi have to look forward to?

[radwriter0555]

24. DANG! Them thar RACKIES aren't grateful for that LIBERATION???? WTF

is WRONG with them????????

[chookie]

25. Iraqi athletes have been quite outspoken

I've *read* some tough talk from them. I guess they were supposed to dedicate their medals to George W and convert to Christianity in their gratitude for being liberated -- but haven't they been saying things like, "If I weren't competing here, I'd be back in Iraq fighting against the occupation"?

They're not "supposed" to say things like, "What about the dozens of Iraqis who perish daily?"

No popular coverage of this stuff. You know, reality.

Then there is that totally queer Bush commercial which uses images of the Olympics, and certain statistics, such as how many countries are participating, to celebrate the triumph of Bush's policies. It's total bullshit -- given that the world almost unanimously condemns his policies. It's as full of lies as the swift boat assholes, but no one holds it up for popular scrutiny.

Sad thing is -- a lot of the "undecideds" will make their minds up based on these feel good images. Sieg Heil! Anyone still wonder NOW how the Nazis took over Germany?

[leesa]

26. He is correct. No one pays the slightest attention to the innocent Iraqis

that are murdered daily by the coalition.