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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (61431)	7/30/2007 9:53:19 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 90947

You mean Saddam’s fall was a welcome event? Thoughts on the Iraqi soccer victory Austin Bay Blog Filed under: General — site admin @ 5:39 pm Reuters firstparagraph in this report on the Iraqi soccer team’s victory is a useful reminder. <<< Crowds of ecstatic Iraqis wept tears of joy and fired rifles into the air on Sunday after their soccer team’s victory in the Asian Cup triggered the biggest street celebrations since the fall of Saddam Hussein. >>> THere is this huge downside, which is why the Iraqi government tries to stop “celebratory fire”: <<< Police in Baghdad and Kut reported at least seven deaths and more than 50 people wounded by stray bullets as gun-toting revelers took to the streets in a wave of euphoria unprecedented after four years of war. >>> What goes up must come down. One morning I went by the troop clinic at Camp Victory (west of Baghdad) to get a re-fill on a prescription. One of the medic sergeants and I started talking about the barrage of celebratory fire the night before. As I recall Iraq’s national soccer team had one a pre-lim game for the World Cup. I said it looked like dangerous fireworks, with streaks of pinkish tracers in the sky. The sergeant reached into his pocket and pulled out an AK bullet — just the bullet, not the entire cartridge. “This came out of the sky last night and landed about ten feet from me. I was sitting outside of my trailer in a folding chair. Scared hell out of me.” The sergeant passed me the bullet. It felt cold, particularly for a souvenir. Three decades or so ago I read an article that mentioned German flak falling back on German cities. It also said the British suffered civilian casualties when anti-aircraft shrapnel returned to earth. Dying from celebratory fire is three steps closer to stupid. It’s one thing if you fire a weapon into the air and you’re in the middle of the desert. In an urban area it is inexcusably foolish. Nevertheless, congrats are due to the Iraqi national team. Winning the Asian games is a big achievement. Last week, I received an email from an Iraqi friend about the team, just before the game against Saudi Arabia. It was a personal email but I think I can quote from it: <<< “The team has sunni shite kurdish and Turkoman players. All arabic satellite TV stations are relaying the scenes from Baghdad celebrating the win, they will play Saudi Arabia this Sunday!” >>> He has good reason to be proud. austinbay.net reuters.com