Athletic indifference: Iraqi soccer feels the pain

On Aug. 4, the Iraqi soccer team returned home to Baghdad as winners of the Asian Soccer Cup -- an impressive feat given their lack of a stable training environment.

According to news reports, the Iraqi team hasn't played a home game in 17 years, basically since the first Gulf War.

Not on hand were three stars: Team Captain Younis Mahmoud, Nashat Akram and Hawar Mulla Mohammed. Each were undoubtedly fearful for their lives should they partake in the celebrations back home. It's a twist to other sports culture around the world where the losers may receive death threats or be the target of violence in other ways.

Since the Iraqi political situation remains impotent, however, even winning the Asian Cup couldn't ensure political foes would put their petty bickering aside to enjoy the moment. Instead, fans and the average Iraqi alike felt obliged to forgo the "party" as they assumed such a gathering would be targeted by, you guessed it, another suicide bomber.

The fact is, it may take a withdraw of U.S. troops before political heavyweights in Baghdad feel the need to step up and take control. It's also clear that once they do, they won't be playing by the same rules concerning civil rights that the U.S. tries to adhere to -- they will, for a time, return to stomping out violence by any means necessary. But then again, sometimes you have to step back a few yards to ultimately gain a mile. And maybe, just maybe, the end will justify the means.