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Opinion: Mulla Muhammad for President

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Given all the celebratory gunfire that went off throughout Iraq on Sunday, you’d have thought that a small war had been won. In this case, however, the battleground was Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta and the victory was over Saudi Arabia for the 2007 Asian Cup.

While the fanaticism of soccer fans worldwide is terrifying to behold, there’s something supernatural about the way a sports field can produce more patriotic sentiment than any arbitrary national boundary. As National Public Radio’s Steve Inkseep noted, the three frontline players were an Iraqi Kurd, a Sunni Arab and a Shiite Arab. Together, they led their team, the Lions of the Two Rivers, to victory.

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It’s a testament to the power of the games that even last week’s car bombings, which targeted and killed more than 50 Iraqis celebrating Wednesday’s victory over South Korea, couldn’t deter exuberant fans from taking to the streets.

Sports might seem somewhat trivial, in light of Iraq’s many serious problems. As Matthew Gray, head of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at Australian National University, notes, ‘Far more important is the day-to-day safety and economic opportunity … for ordinary Iraqis, and on that front, you’ve got to be pretty pessimistic.’ Team captain Younis Mahmoud, who refuses to return to Iraq given the level of violence, seems to agree—and that’s a sad, though understandable, standard to set.

But in a country facing political strife, religious tension and ethnic violence, it’s still significant that this multicultural team has seized the spotlight.

And as the Iraqi parliament went into recess today without passing any of the legislation that could bridge the gap between Sunnis and Shiites, it’s a reminder that at least some people are willing to put differences aside and get the job done. As Sunni bloc member Omar Abdul Sattar sardonically suggested, ‘Maybe we should replace the political team with the football team.’

Personally, I think it would be better to replace the soccer team with parliament. If only both sides had thrown aside their differences, thrown on jerseys and scrimmaged instead, the world would be a better, albeit sweatier, place.

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