Feud over sports could keep Iraq out of Olympics

BAGHDAD — Sports has been one of the few things unifying Iraqis in recent years — with soccer victories bringing Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds alike into the streets cheering.

But a bitter fight between the government and the country's Olympic committee and sports federations is putting Iraq at risk of being banned from World Cup qualifying matches and this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing.

The feud is mired in politics. The government accuses the National Olympic Committee of corruption, while supporters of the group charge that officials really want to control the independent sports groups so they can install their own people in lucrative and prestigious posts.

But there is also an underlying layer of Iraq's sectarian bitterness: The Youth and Sports Ministry is dominated by Shiites, while the Olympic committee includes four holdovers from the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein, whose feared son Odai ran the panel.

Four other members of the National Olympic Committee, including its chief, were kidnapped nearly two years ago and there has been no word on their fate. At the time, some Iraqis accused Shiite militiamen, though there is no public evidence the abduction was connected to the sports dispute.

The power struggle came to a head last week when Iraq's government ordered the dissolution of the National Olympic Committee, arguing it was illegitimate because it could not reach a quorum since the kidnappings and was involved in financial wrongdoing.

The International Olympic Committee denounced the order as "serious interference" in what is supposed to be an independent body and demanded the government respect the Iraqi committee's autonomy.

FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, banned the Iraqi soccer federation from international play for a year unless the Olympic committee's dissolution is rescinded by Thursday. If it stands, the ban will keep Iraq's national team out of qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup, including a game against Australia scheduled for Sunday in Brisbane.

The spokesman of an interim National Olympic Committee installed by the government, Jazair al-Sahlani, said Tuesday that the decision "is firm and will not be reconsidered."

The IOC's executive board is to discuss the situation when it meets in Athens, Greece, next week but has not said what steps it might take if Iraq doesn't give in.