Good News For Iraqi Soccer Captain

The media is playing up a statement by the Captain of the Iraqi soccer team as regards his concerns over returning to Iraq. Fair enough. However, if he does go back, it's doubtful he'll be forced to play in a stadium that includes a torture chamber, as was the case under Saddam.

The Olympic committee headquarters, near the Canal Expressway on the eastern side of Baghdad, is a burned-out shell now, its torture chambers in the basement flooded with water, every floor a wasteland of charred furniture and twisted steel. Out front, the gold-painted statue of Saddam Hussein lies prone on the ground. Its head was cut off with axes and carried away.

Nothing could more perfectly represent the end of Mr. Hussein's rule, and the loathing for his son. But Mr. Jaafer, the midfielder, paused at the gateway, reluctant to enter.

He had come to point out the scenes of his humiliations by the man every Iraqi still refers to simply as "Mr. Uday" — Saddam Hussein's eldest son.

Mr. Jaafer, 36, is a small, wiry man, and by his own profession a bantam in defending himself, on or off the field. That, fellow players on the national squad said, made him Uday's preferred target for punishment whenever the team failed to win.

Comments

[The other Ken]

It is duly noted that the one player interview that made the national media was not favorable to the United States. I wonder what the others are thinking?

[Phoenix]

A reminder that we have to help this country to flourish in freedom. I am sad for this man.