Comments on: In the News: 18 Boys Playing Soccer Killed in Iraq

By: If This Is Football » Blog Archive » The Sweeper #2

If This Is Football » Blog Archive » The Sweeper #2 — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:17:21 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Culture of Soccer » Blog Archive » What Iâ€™m Reading: March 9 2007

Culture of Soccer » Blog Archive » What Iâ€™m Reading: March 9 2007 — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 00:59:23 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 02:36:40 +0000

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?

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 02:20:36 +0000

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.

By: David

David — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:24:49 +0000

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.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:04:07 +0000

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.