The decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Iraqi athletes from the Beijing Olympics is truly disgusting, summarized succintly by Michael Soussan:
If Uday Hussein was acceptable to the IOC, why is the committee up in arms about the Iraqi government’s decision to reshuffle its Olympic management team? The answer is that Iraq’s new Olympic managers have not yet been accredited by the IOC. What will it take to get them accredited? Will they have to start torturing their athletes the way Uday used to do, when they failed to perform to his liking?
The IOC, if you didn’t know, claims that Iraq awarded its national Olympic committee based on politics. This is a joke considering it had no problemo with Saddam Hussein, who not only awarded posts based on political allies, but, you know, murdered anyone who wasn’t a political ally.
Amazing. Then again, this is the same committee that bestowed further legitimacy to a country, China, that doesn’t even acknowledge the right of its own citizens to speak, assemble or practice religion freely.
Related:
Uday Hussein’s death frees Iraqi athletes