Big Green Ogres

Iraq has won the men's quarter finals in soccer. It has also fielded its largest olympic team since the depleted Moscow "What if we had a war and nobody came to our olympics?" 1980 games.

To the mainstream media, and to anti-war writers who thought that Saddam did some bad stuff but made the trains run on time, the good news is some sort of fluke. Reuters described the team as "war-weary"and having a "fairytale Olympic run", as if it just happened by magic. And as Bob Ellis reckons that no needless torture occurred in Iraq, the team shouldn't be going as well now as it did when Uday tortured athletes that failed to live up to his expectations.

Elsewhere, the news is not as good. Amir Taheri notes

According to officials in Athens, the number of Muslim women participating in this year's game is the lowest since 1960. Several Muslim countries have sent no women athletes at all; others, such as Iran, are taking part with only one, in full hijab. And state-owned TV networks in many Muslim countries, including Iran and Egypt, have received instructions to limit coverage of events featuring women athletes at Athens to a minimum.

Apartheid South Africa, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Saddam-era Iraq ... bad things happen to regimes that violate the olympic spirit.

With the advent of wild card entries, there should be no excuse for a team not sending at least one female athlete.