Is Uday Udead? (should be)

[BENZ-LGB]

This is a partial reprint of an article that will appear in the March 24 issue of Sports Illustrated. The article is about saddam's bloodthirsty son, uday.

AS U.S. AND British forces sit on the borders of Iraq poised for invasion, Uday Hussein's name is near the top of the Pentagon's list of the Filthy 40 -- the close associates of Saddam targeted for war-crime trials. Yet Uday remains in place, unchallenged, as his country's Olympic leader.

"This man has no business using the Olympic rings to give him credibility," says Charles Forrest, CEO of INDICT, a U.S.-government-funded human rights group based in London. "That the Olympic community, which has known about the atrocities of Uday for years, has taken no action is a black eye for the organization. The IOC is in a morally indefensible position here."

In December, INDICT filed a complaint with the IOC asking that Iraq be expelled from the Olympic community. Attached to the complaint were sworn statements from several Iraqi athletes detailing torture and imprisonment on orders from Uday. In February the IOC agreed to investigate Uday's behavior. As of last week, however, none of the athletes who had given sworn statements for the INDICT complaint had been contacted by the IOC.

"[IOC leaders] have tried to call the timing of our complaint suspicious and suggest it is part of an anti-Saddam agenda," says Forrest. "The real question should be, Why didn't you do something about this years ago? It is not as if we've uncovered something no one has ever heard of, and they know it. It almost seems [that they're thinking] that if they wait long enough, the U.S. will invade and they won't have to deal with this issue."

IOC president Jacques Rogge acknowledged last week that his organization received the complaint and says it is in the hands of the ethics committee. But IOC member Richard Pound says that it is "important to remember these are just allegations, and you have to make sure this is not all tied to the Iraq-U.S. dispute, that we are not being used for propaganda. You just never know."

"That disgusts me that someone would say that," says Haydar, the former soccer star. "I wish they would run their hands over our scars, see the pain in our eyes and float in raw sewage. Then there would be no questions."

"The problem for the IOC is going to be when Saddam is overthrown and people walk into the Olympic headquarters and see the torture chamber and the blood on the floor," Forrest says. "What will they say then?"

Issue date: March 24, 2003


What I find so interesting is the reaction of the IOC to the reports of uday's crimes. They don't want to be "used" for propaganda in the U.S.-Iraq war. What a bunch of BS!

I've always found the IOC to be a bunch of politically correct, gutless wonders, who are more interested in partying than in doing anything of any real value. A pox on their house.

The IOC should listen to those who have first-hand experience--the men and women (athletes) who have been tortured at uday's command.