I thought this was interesting. It's also interesting how bombing the place may actually hinder war crime investigations against Uday.
http://espn.go.com/oly/news/2003/0401/1532339.html
Tuesday, April 1
Bombing evokes mixed emotions from former athletes
By Tom Farrey
ESPN.com
The Iraqi National Olympic Committee headquarters was bombed and largely destroyed Tuesday by U.S. war planes, prompting mixed reaction from former Iraqi athletes who said they have been tortured by Olympic committee chief Uday Hussein.
"That's great news, lovely news," said Sharar Haydar, a former national team soccer player.
Haydar claims to be one of many athletes who was imprisoned in a first-floor prison, and punished by Uday, son of Saddam Hussein.
The overnight bombing of selected targets inflicted serious damage on the bottom four floors of the nine-story building in east Baghdad, according to the Associated Press. Walls were blown out, and mangled wire and steel protruded. The building sits in a big complex of housing units, and they appeared unscathed.
Less joyous was former volleyball star and coach Issam Thamer, who wants to help rebuild Iraqi sports if the Hussein regime topples. As president of the Iraqi Olympic Council, a nascent group of exiled former Iraqi athletes, Thamer said he is working with Pentagon officials and plans to return to Iraq when the war is over.
"Hopefully they didn't destroy all of the building," he said. "There are many important documents in there that we need for historical purposes."
In a first-person account for ESPN.com published in December, Thamer, who defected in 1991, described the features of the Olympic building, which also served as the headquarters for the various business and military units that Uday oversees.
Haydar, who defected to England in 1998, said Uday rarely spent time at the Olympic headquarters after an assassination attempt in 1996 left him partially crippled. He doubts that Uday, if he is still alive, was in the building at the time, knowing that it could be an obvious target.
On Monday night, Uday appeared on Iraqi television with his father, Saddam, and younger brother Qusai. The video showed them meeting with top military commanders, although there was no way of determining when the video was shot.
The International Olympic Committee issued a statement after U.S. military officials announced that they had damaged the building.
"The IOC has had no confirmation that the Iraqi NOC has been bombed other than through media reports," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "There has been no communication from the Iraqi (Olympic Committee) for many months. Given the current conflict in Iraq, the IOC is not in a position to add any further information at this time."
The IOC's Ethics Commission in January launched a formal investigation into charges of torture and other forms of abuse by Uday and the Iraqi Olympic Committee. If nothing else, damage to the building could make the investigation more challenging, if evidence was destroyed.
"Clearly a very difficult situation which we are doing our best to deal with," Davies told ESPN.com.
Haydar said he was interviewed by IOC Ethics Commission representatives last weekend in London. IOC president Jacques Rogge said the IOC will not send investigators to Baghdad until after the war.
Tom Farrey is a senior writer with ESPN.com. He can be reached at
tom.farrey@espn3.com.
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