Another Reason to Boycott the Olympics
July 26th, 2008 at 05:33pm Mark Noonan
I already refuse to watch even a moment of them - and will do my best to tune out even the barest mention of them. This due, of course, to the fact that China’s government is an anti-human, worst-sort-of-culture-of-death imaginable tyranny. But here’s another reason, if you need one - from NRO’s The Corner:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement in response to the International Olympic Committee’s decision to exclude Iraqi athletes from the Beijing Olympics:
“It is outrageous that the IOC would reject athletes from a democratic Iraq, and at the same time, from Saddam Hussein’s son Uday’s notorious, torture-based Iraqi Olympics team. embrace those from repressive regimes like North Korea, Burma and Sudan. This is the same Olympic organization that embraced the participation of athletes
“Rather than give the world the excitement of seeing Iraq’s athletes further unify their nation across sectarian boundaries in the spirit of Olympic competition, the IOC has chosen to spit in the eye of the athletes and people of this emerging democracy.
“I urge President Bush and the leaders of the free nations participating in the Beijing Olympics to put maximum pressure on the IOC to reverse course. Democratic leaders should not embrace the farce of watching athletes from some of the world’s most brutal regimes being paraded in front of them while athletes from new democracies are spurned.
“First tortured by Uday, and now rejected by the IOC, the athletes of Iraq have suffered enough.”
There is something which continues to outrage - no matter how many times I see it - about bodies staffed with international elites which will grovel to tyrants but have all sorts of objections to imperfect democracies. We can forgive them, of course - cut off as they are from the wellsprings of truth, the global elite often can’t even tell when they are doing a horribly wrong thing…but forgiving them and understanding their sorry plight doesn’t make it any better for the people of Iraq, who have every right to be represented in Beijing if, for instance, the slaves of North Korea are allowed in…
Entry Filed under: Foreign Affairs
7 Comments Add your own
1. neocon | July 26th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
“…..international elites which will grovel to tyrants but have all sorts of objections to imperfect democracies.” - Mark
That’s because tyrants can pad their wallets and imperfect democracies wont hold them accountable.
I am not reading why this decision was made? What’s China’s reason? As if that would make a difference. The IOC is way out of line.
2. Less | July 26th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I would LOVE to see President Bush fly out to the Olympics Opening Ceremony and instead land in Baghdad so that he can attend the Iraq-MNF Substitute Olympics. THAT would be the appropriate response!
3. Casper | July 26th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Mark,
I agree with you on this one, but I think it’s a ggod idea to understand why they were banned.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/24/iraq.olympics/index.html
4. The New Conservative | July 27th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I don’t think the IOC put very much thought into this decision. It will probably be reversed in short order.
http://www.thenewconservatives.blogspot.com/
5. cam | July 27th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
The reason we should boycott the Olympics in China goes beyond whether the Iraqi Olympians will be allowed to compete. The real culprit and focus of our ire should be the government of China not the IOC. The crimes of the Chinese government against its own citizens are legion. Yet, while some handwringing and finger wagging has resulted no US president has yet taken a serious stand on this issue. Ultimately it comes down to kowtowing to the corporations on this one. There is just too much money to be made in trade with China. Instead all US presidents have taken the much easier stand against Cuba. Change the equation and add 1 billion people to the Cuban population and the ban against trade with Cuba would evaporate.
There is another reason to object to the Olympics choosing China. China is a environmental disaster of monumental proportions, a neocon dream. Without government regulations we can see what our country would look like. What is hilarious is watching while the Chinese government tries to clean up the huge mess that its lack of environmental regulations have brought to its countryside. If we want to see what our world would look like if there were no regulations all we have to do is look at China.
6. Joshua Wright | July 27th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
John McCain is lying. Obama had to cancel that visit of the troops because the Pentagon told him that he shouldn’t take his campaign staff there. Obama wanted to respect the troops and not make this into an issue, so he canceled the visit. Of course, Obama has visited troops without cameras present in the past, so McCain is simply a liar.
John McCain is trying to make the troops a political issue. Totally despicable — while Obama made a decision to not make the troops a campaign issue, McCain is putting them in his ad and using them as a cudgel!
John McCain’s attack is tasteless. See #1 and #2. Any claim that Obama doesn’t care about the troops is pure trash.
John McCain is desperate. Why else go so negative three months before election day? His polling must suck worse than his speech-making ability.
7. Danish Artist | July 29th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
No, Joshua. If Obama did not want to make this a campaing issue, he would have visited the troops without his entourage present.
Period.
His “worldly” tour could have waited for what? a couple of hours? But he obviously had better things to do - more campaigning.
He visited the troops in Iraq, because for him it was the political thing to do, since he was challenged about his not visiting Iraq.
He had to visit the troops in Iraq - so don’t make it a selfless act. By not seeing the troops in Germany, he proved that his motivations are political.
So, stop drinking the liberal koolaid and being an Obamaton. It does nothing for your cause.
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