Iraq's Asian Cup win is a victory for 'soft power'
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Zhang Quanyi
Ignoring orders from the Iraqi government, celebratory gunfire resounded across Baghdad and revelers poured into the streets after Iraq beat Saudi Arabia in Jakarta, Indonesia, to clinch its first Asian Cup soccer championship last Sunday night.
It should have been a sleepless and jubilant night for all the Iraqi people, their brave soccer team having created unprecedented history in winning the championship. It was not merely a moment in sports history. To the Iraqi people it meant much more.
Talking to local media, people on the street in Baghdad praised the team and described them as heroes. The players represented the real Iraq, they said, not the country's politicians.
Sports often trump politics in expressing the deep sentiments of a nation. Modern history has shown that wars do not resolve conflicts if underlying issues are not resolved. In Sunday's celebrations we saw the potential for a unified Iraq as the nation's people united to share in the victory.
The Iraqi people have endured one war after another since 1980, beginning with the Iraq-Iran War, which lasted eight years; the 1990-91 Gulf War initiated by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; and the ongoing war started by the U.S.-led alliance in 2003 and sustained by insurgents who wreak daily acts of terror on the foreign troops and the Iraqi people. Millions of people and soldiers were killed or injured in these conflicts. It has been nearly 30 years since the Iraqi people could really sleep safely and soundly.
These wars not only bankrupted Iraq's economy and destroyed the nation's basic industries, but also caused the nation's people to disintegrate into groups of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, who have become enemies because of the fighting. To make matters worse, the terrorists have used and strengthened these divisions for their own purposes.
Significantly, the Iraqi soccer team included players from all these sectors.
Barely a day passes without a suicide bomb incident, filling the Iraqi people with terror, and shocking the entire world. A bomb could explode almost anywhere in Iraq -- at the checkpoints, the Green Zone areas, the government buildings, the soldiers' training camps. Even mosques, which once represented peace, are not safe. Nor are bus stops or markets, where people go about their daily lives. Terrorists have targeted weddings and funerals, turning these important ceremonies into tragedies.
Even the July 25 celebration of Iraq's semi-final soccer win over South Korea was spoiled when a bomb went off in the midst of a group of fans, killing 50 people. Luckily no such incident marred the celebrations of the final victory on Sunday.
Ignoring orders from the Iraqi government, celebratory gunfire resounded across Baghdad and revelers poured into the streets after Iraq beat Saudi Arabia in Jakarta, Indonesia, to clinch its first Asian Cup soccer championship last Sunday night.
It should have been a sleepless and jubilant night for all the Iraqi people, their brave soccer team having created unprecedented history in winning the championship. It was not merely a moment in sports history. To the Iraqi people it meant much more.
Talking to local media, people on the street in Baghdad praised the team and described them as heroes. The players represented the real Iraq, they said, not the country's politicians.
Sports often trump politics in expressing the deep sentiments of a nation. Modern history has shown that wars do not resolve conflicts if underlying issues are not resolved. In Sunday's celebrations we saw the potential for a unified Iraq as the nation's people united to share in the victory.
The Iraqi people have endured one war after another since 1980, beginning with the Iraq-Iran War, which lasted eight years; the 1990-91 Gulf War initiated by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; and the ongoing war started by the U.S.-led alliance in 2003 and sustained by insurgents who wreak daily acts of terror on the foreign troops and the Iraqi people. Millions of people and soldiers were killed or injured in these conflicts. It has been nearly 30 years since the Iraqi people could really sleep safely and soundly.
These wars not only bankrupted Iraq's economy and destroyed the nation's basic industries, but also caused the nation's people to disintegrate into groups of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, who have become enemies because of the fighting. To make matters worse, the terrorists have used and strengthened these divisions for their own purposes.
Significantly, the Iraqi soccer team included players from all these sectors.
Barely a day passes without a suicide bomb incident, filling the Iraqi people with terror, and shocking the entire world. A bomb could explode almost anywhere in Iraq -- at the checkpoints, the Green Zone areas, the government buildings, the soldiers' training camps. Even mosques, which once represented peace, are not safe. Nor are bus stops or markets, where people go about their daily lives. Terrorists have targeted weddings and funerals, turning these important ceremonies into tragedies.
Even the July 25 celebration of Iraq's semi-final soccer win over South Korea was spoiled when a bomb went off in the midst of a group of fans, killing 50 people. Luckily no such incident marred the celebrations of the final victory on Sunday.