In the News: 18 Boys Playing Soccer Killed in Iraq
Since writing about the long and shameful history of political violence on the soccer field, I’ve been keeping an eye out for current instances of this phenomenon. Sadly, such an incident took only a couple of weeks to occur. Not surprisingly, it took place in Iraq.
The suicide bombing that killed 18 boys as they played soccer in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi last Monday was sad enough on its own. At the same time, it illustrates how badly the American military is struggling to contain the violence in Iraq as the country spirals downward towards all-out civil war.
Children play soccer on a Fallujah field after a suicide bombing
On hearing reports of the suicide bombing, the US military went into news-spinning mode. Spokesmen said that there were two incidents that day in Ramadi and that one had been a controlled explosion near a soccer field in which there had been injuries but no deaths.
Only later in the week, with some reporting from the Washington Post, did it become clear that the soccer field attack had indeed occurred. The Post quoted local sheikh Raad Sabah al-Mukeilef, who was likely the intended target of the attack. Mukeilef said of the suicide bomber, “He came in a pickup. Instead of coming in my street, he did it in a small park for children.”
The sheikh also claimed that no members of the US military had responded to the incident. Despite this account, US military spokesman Mark Fox continued to contradict reality. “We ran this down,” said Rear Admiral Fox. “There was no second blast and there were not 18 children killed. The soccer field that was touted in the erroneous report was across the street from the structure that was in the controlled detonation.”
It is sad enough that the US military has so little awareness of, let alone control over, the violence in Iraq. It is even sadder that 18 children had to die playing soccer to make this clear.
Days after the suicide bombing that killed these young boys Ramadi was again the site of violence toward soccer players. The Guardian reports that Mohhamed Hamid and Mohammed Mishaan, both members of the local Ramadi Football Club, were killed on March 2. According to the website Iraq Slogger, both players were killed in the middle of a team practice.
Masked gunmen in Ramadi, west of Iraq, killed football players Mohammed Hamid, 27, and Mohammed Mish’an, 23, from the Ramadi Football Team in front of spectators and teammates while they were in a training session Friday. Three vehicles carrying a dozen gunmen entered the stadium and dragged the two players toward the cars, while people watched in fear. When the two players resisted, they were both shot execution-style, according to eyewitnesses and Ramadi police spokesman Major Tariq Yousif. The two players were accused of being supporters of the Anbar Salvation Council, a tribal group led by Sheikh Abdul Sattar Al-Rishawi, which is opposed to Al-Qaeda militants in the Anbar Governorate.
No word yet on whether the US military plans to deny this latest violence on Iraq’s soccer fields.
Update
NPR ran a great story which is an antidote the theme of violence being perpetrated on the soccer field. The story talks about a mixed Sunni / Shiite league in Baghdad that attempts to bring players from all backgrounds together. Many of the players specifically talked about the league being non-sectarian as a reason why they played in it. Unfortunately, it’s probably only a matter of time before those in Iraq who don’t want to see such unity attack the players in this league.
March 4th, 2007 18:04
the ’soccer field bombing’ story has already been debunked. in this one case at least, it appears the u.s. military is telling the truth.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/04/Worldandnation/Last_week_in_Iraq.shtml
part of the problem is that there is so much violence going on over there, it’s hard to keep track of. in this case, it looks like a couple of different incidents got confused. shame on the AP and the media for sloppy reporting.
March 4th, 2007 18:24
Peter - Thanks for posting that link. I read it and it doesn’t seem any different from what the military had said previously (that the suicide bombing hadn’t killed any boys playing soccer). I guess this incident has really become a “he said she said” fight.
Given the US military’s record of not always being aware of everything going on in the country, I’m not convinced that the incident did not occur. The fact that two Iraqi officials both told the Washington Post the same story about the attack at the soccer field makes me think that it probably is true, despite the American military’s continued denials. At the very least, I find it shameful overall that we have allowed the country to descend into such chaos that we can’t no for sure whether this incident did in fact occur. The continued violence means that the media does not feel safe enough to report from places like Ramadi, which leaves us wondering what exactly is occurring there.
March 4th, 2007 21:20
yeah - lazy of me not to find a better article to point to. i saw what i thought was at least one legitimate account of what actually happened, but now i can only find U.S. military denials, which are pretty close to meaningless.
but this account seems like it could be true:
http://www.nysun.com/article/49527
basically, u.s. soldiers were having a little fun and wanted to terrorize the local kids a bit, set off this massive set of bombs. if the above account is true, then the attack served its purpose by injuring and terrorizing a bunch of kids playing soccer, but it did not kill any kids - if we’re to believe the account above.
i would still like to see the whole truth get out. and the U.S. military is famous for non-denial denials. so, they’ll say stuff like “there were not 18 kids killed on Tuesday” if there were, in fact, 18 kids killed on Monday.
March 4th, 2007 21:36
here is the article that made me think again:
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/02/28/confirmed-ramadi-soccer-field-car-bombing-didnt-happen-yesterday/
reading it now, though, i just get more confused.
the whole ‘unnamed Iraqi officials’ thing sounds off. the only reason i could think of - why Iraqi officials would want to remain anonymous - is because going on the record would actually let people know they were, in fact, part of the Iraqi government - something which could get them killed. that’s just a guess. would there be any other reason to remain anonymous for a story like this?
March 9th, 2007 19:59
[...] players from all ethnic groups. Many of the players see their game as an explicit rejection of the terrorists who have targeted soccer. One, Abbas Abdulkarim, is quoted saying, “What we are trying to do is strengthen peace to [...]
March 25th, 2007 15:17
[...] past seems reconciled, the violence in Iraq makes soccer a dangerous game even for children, as reported by The Culture of Soccer blog. The suicide bombing that killed 18 boys as they played soccer in the Sunni insurgent stronghold [...]