November 4, 2005
THEY MEAN WELL ANYWAY:
Soccer Victories: This is what we’re about (Steven Kiel, 11/04/05, National Review)
There’s a story that has made its rounds here in Iraq. A Blackhawk helicopter is hovering low, running a mission in the Sunni Triangle. Alone in a field there’s a unkempt child of about twelveold. The boy, acting on everything his father has told him, looks up at the chopper with hatred in his eyes, picks up a rock and cocks his arm, ready to throw. But the gunner in the Blackhawk has something in his hand too, and he’s a bit quicker.
Whoosh! A soccer ball flies out of the door of the chopper. The boy stands in disbelief for a moment, and then collects himself enough to run after the ball. Once he retrieves it, he looks up and with a smile from ear to ear, and excitedly waves to the American soldiers in the Blackhawk.
But by stopping him from learning to throw overhand and encouraging him to play soccer you're ruining his life. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 4, 2005 9:12 AM
Yet another story of how misguided Americans think they're helping when they're not.
Posted by: H.D. Miller at November 4, 2005 9:30 AMMan, must've made your day OJ to come up with that little nugget.
There's room in Iraq for both of the world's two great sports, baseball and soccer. I look forward to the day where the Iraqi big league is exporting baseball players to the US like Japan does now, and when the Iraqi football team makes its run deep in the world cup.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at November 4, 2005 11:42 AMHere's a great story for you, oj:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=saudiarabia&ID=IA24505
H.D.:
You want to elaborate on what you mean by that comment?
Posted by: Bartman at November 4, 2005 12:57 PMThe above fracas aside, I just want to say that Orrin's parthian comment gave me my best laugh of the week. Thanks.
Posted by: John Ziemba at November 4, 2005 5:52 PM