Getting Kicks Out of Iraq

Considering that he's the sort of man who's not above pretending to like Cheez Whiz in order to gain a fleeting political advantage, it should come as no surprise to learn that George W. Bush thinks of the Olympics less as a celebration of athleticism than as yet another opportunity for electioneering. Thus, while the unofficial Bush campaign was busy spreading lies and baseless innuendo about John Kerry's war record, the official campaign launched a new ad lauding the president's supposed success in spreading the blessings of freedom around the world.

It was a good choice. Americans like the Olympics, and because our men's soccer team failed to qualify, the field was open for the United States to root for some other nation. And, so far, the Iraqis are doing well. So well, in fact, that Matt Drudge (a key player in the aforementioned unofficial campaign and hence someone potentially in a position to know) has reported that the White House is contemplating a surprise trip to Athens, Greece, so the president can watch the team and further associate his failed administration with the players' success. What's more, Iraq's Olympians suffered uniquely at the hands of Saddam Hussein's son Uday, making them an excellent example of the undeniable fact that some good has come of the Iraq War. The charge that Bush's critics harbor a secret nostalgia for Baath Party rule can be rebutted, but, like many things, the argument is not amenable to explication in a 30-second television spot, so it looked like the campaign was headed toward making some modest gains off the issue.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the medal stand: Someone asked Iraq's players how they feel.

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Salih Sadir told Sports Illustrated. Ahmed Manajid elaborated: "How will [Bush] meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes." Coach Ahmed Hamad was more diplomatic. "My problems are not with the American people," he said. "They are with what America has done in Iraq: Destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the [national] stadium and there are shootings on the road?" Manajid went on to explain that if he weren't so busy with the team, he would join the Sunni resistance.

This is the sound of a counterinsurgency gone horribly wrong. The time-honored method of guerilla warfare, whether undertaken for causes admirable, despicable, or somewhere in between, is to attack a stronger adversary not in order to defeat him but in order to provoke reprisals. The guerillas then melt into the surrounding population, ensuring that counterattacks will inflict pain not only on their forces but on the people at large, thus alienating them from the established authorities. Sympathizers become co-belligerents and fence-sitters become sympathizers. The guerillas suffer losses, but also a recruiting boom, while the increasingly despised counterinsurgents lose credibility and the ability to govern effectively.

Why is Manajid so upset? Well, it's simple enough: He's from Fallujah, where U.S. forces have launched many attacks, one of which killed his cousin Omar. It's an understandable sentiment: To be sure, Omar was killed because he joined the insurgency; nevertheless, if someone killed my cousin, I'd be pretty upset about it. And the late Omar Jabbar al-Aziz doubtless had more family members than the one anti-American midfielder. Other cousins, perhaps, along with some siblings and in-laws. Children, maybe, or parents who are still alive. Nephews, uncles, and nieces. Certainly he had friends. And none of those people is going to be very happy that he was killed. Nor will those who were merely injured by U.S. attacks feel very warm and fuzzy about the red, white, and blue. Nor will their friends and family. Nor those who've had their homes destroyed, or merely damaged. More than a year of sporadic fighting, bombing, and shelling has a way of making a lot of people mad. And when a lot of people get mad at you, some of them decide to get even.