To: steve harris who wrote (199473 ) 9/1/2004 6:58:15 PM From: tejek Respond to maybe they are upset because they assumed Bush was bragging at what the United States accomplished? Bush campaign gets red card from Iraqi Olympic athletes 24.08.2004 “Iraq as a team does not want Mr Bush to use us for the presidential campaign. He can find another way to advertise himself”, according to CNN’s Sports Illustrated website. The team’s coach Adnan Hamad said the ads were misleading since they described Iraq as a “free” country. “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 that “freedom” was “just a word for the media”. Another midfield player, Ahmed Manajid, was similarly disgusted with the campaign films. Referring to Bush, he said: “How will he meet his god, having slaughtered so many men and women?” he asked a Sports Illustrated reporter. “He has committed so many crimes.” Coach Hamad said he had no quarrel with the American people. “[My problems] are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq.” The manager of the Iraqi Olympic team later accused the media of having taken advantage of his “politically naïve” athletes.The manager, Mark Clark, is a former British army officer and has served as an official on the Coalition Provisional Authority, which coordinated the occupation of Iraq until a formal power handover in late June this year. But the Iraqi athletes were not the only ones to criticize the Bush advertisement. The US Olympic Committee (USOC) has protested the illicit use of trademarked Olympic insignia in the Republican party advertisement, as the symbols can only be used for marketing purposes by the International Olympic Committee or the national Olympic committees of participating nations. A USOC spokesman later said the organization would not comment on the matter until it had clarified some legal issues.<font color=black>isn.ethz.ch Bush's ads are particularly hypocritical when he refused to sign the Olympian Truce.
