Friday, August 27, 2004
AFP reports that the Iraqi soccer team has caused another mini-scandal by refusing to wear black armbands, in remembrance of an Italian journalist who was murdered in Iraq, to the bronze medal match between Iraq and Italy. The team's coach pointed out that to do so would be kind of silly given that, you know, more than ten thousand Iraqi civilians have died since the start of the invasion:
We will not be wearing black armbands. The Italians will be and we respect their choice ... 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.
