clantontiger 0 Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 Iraq refuse to wear black armbands in bronze medal match Agence France-Presse Athens, August 27 Iraq's footballers have refused to join their Olympic bronze medal opponents Italy in donning black armbands as a mark of respect for murdered Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni. The reporter was executed by an Islamic group in Baghdad on Thursday in an act widely condemned throughout the world. Iraq and Italy meet in Salonika on Friday for the bronze medal but Iraqi coach Adnan Hamd said that his team will not wear black armbands although he said he respected the Italians' wishes. "We will not be wearing black armbands. The Italians will be and we respect their choice," Hamd said. "We regret the death of the Italian journalist but it's necessary also to think of the hundreds of Iraqis who have died each day during resistance to the occupation. "It would be necessary to wear an armband every day. We sent a message to the kidnappers to free the journalist but sadly it was in vain." An Islamist group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq executed Baldoni after holding him for a week, Arabic-language satellite news channel Al-Jazeera reported on Thursday. The Qatar-based channel said it had received a videotape showing the journalist after his execution, but had decided not to release it as it would be too shocking for viewers. Al-Jazeera quoted a statement attributed to the kidnappers saying the Italian had been slain under sharia law. It said the decision "was taken after the refusal by Italy to reply favourably to the demand (by the group) to withdraw its soldiers from Iraq within 48 hours. I came across this and I wanted to get opinions on this story. The arm bands to me are not the problem with this story. The problem I find in this is this quote : We regret the death of the Italian journalist but it's necessary also to think of the hundreds of Iraqis who have died each day during resistance to the occupation. I guess that he has forgotten that if he does not win his bronze metal it is off to the torture chamber. Maybe one day he will wake up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger88 934 Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 This really all depends on how you look at it. Put yourself in their shoes. they have seen fellow iraquians die everyday for awhile now. Why should they put on a tribute to a single journalist who died? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolinaTiger 0 Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 maybe the coach was a hussein fan(?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamaGrad03 0 Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 Sure, Iraqi terrorists. These are the same soccer players who said they wish to take up arms in the fight against george bush. Easier to hate him because he's american. I hope they lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clantontiger 0 Posted August 27, 2004 Author Share Posted August 27, 2004 I hope they lose. Me, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeduke 8 Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 They did lose. Italy beats Iraq 1-0 for bronze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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