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Iraqis celebrate unity despite bombings { June 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/070726/2/u7ua.htmlhttp://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/070726/2/u7ua.html
Iraqis ready to defy bombs to back football team
Thu 26 Jul, 02:58 PM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqis, brought together in a rare moment of unity by their soccer team's success in the Asian Cup, said defiantly on Thursday that bombs would not deter them from supporting their country in Sunday's final.
Thousands of them poured onto the streets after Iraq beat South Korea on Wednesday to reach the Asian Cup final for the first time, but suicide bombings that killed 50 people in Baghdad cast a pall over their jubilation.
The bombings were a sharp reminder of Iraq's unrelenting cycle of sectarian violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
But many fans, though war-weary, said they would not be cowed and would turn out to support their team in the same fashion when Iraq meet Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
"Those who carried out the explosions yesterday wanted to deprive Iraqis of rare moments of happiness. They want to kill life in Iraq," said 22-year-old Bashar Mouayad.
The streets of Baghdad and cities across Iraq erupted into spontaneous displays of joy as fans with Iraqi flags draped over their shoulders danced in the streets. Sheep were slaughtered and vendors at ice cram and juice shops gave away free treats.
Sabbah Hameed, a 47-year-old teacher, said he had been watching soccer since he was 10 and he was not going to miss the rare chance of celebrating despite the danger.
"My wife threatened to take the kids and leave home if I go celebrating outside with my friends," Hameed told Reuters.
"I told her to leave home now because I am going to go outside," he said.
The bombings were condemned by the U.S. military as barbaric. Iraqi leaders said they were carried out by militants upset by the rare display of unity among fans from Iraq's mainly Shi'ite south, Kurdish north and mixed areas of Baghdad.
In Mosul, often targeted by Sunni Islamist militants, gunmen mined the north-western city's main soccer stadium, destroying about half the structure.
Deafening barrages of gunfire greeted Iraq's defeat of South Korea in a penalty shootout. Firing weapons into the air is a tribal tradition at times of celebration but it often has deadly consequences.
Two people were killed by falling bullets despite televised warnings by military commanders not to fire.
Many parents worry about their children's safety.
Some, like Baghdad mother Um Adil, do not want to stop their children from having fun, so she and her husband decided to send their three sons to Sulaimaniya in Iraq's more stable north to watch the televised final in Kuala Lumpur.
"We prefer to lose the money rather than our boys," she said.
But 59-year-old Um Laith said she would be keeping a closer eye on her two grown-up sons. "I do not want my home turned into an orphanage because of a soccer match," she said.
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