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Success in Terror War Seen at Olympic Games
By Bobby Eberle
August 16, 2004

For close to three years, America has waged a war on terror. Over that time, the leading focus has been rooting out the terror network known as al Qaeda and making America safer at home. Numerous high-level al Qaeda operatives have been captured or killed and major sources of terror financing have been shut down. Intelligence operatives both at home and abroad have disrupted future al Qaeda attacks, and now, through the work of the independent 9/11 Commission, recommendations have been put forward to make long-needed improvements in the nation's ability to gather, analyze, and share intelligence information.

Although the prime and overriding reason for waging the war on terror is to protect the lives of the American people, the benefits can be seen far beyond our shores. As the world focuses on the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, the athletes of two nations circled the stadium during the opening ceremony with a renewed sense of hope and freedom -- a feeling of liberation in knowing that for some, they could compete without fear of torture, and for others, knowing that they could compete at all.

Afghanistan's Olympic team consists of ten athletes -- seven men and three women. Two of the men are competing in wrestling, while the rest will face the world in track and field events. Although none are expected to contend for a medal, what is significant is that Afghanistan is appearing in its first summer Olympics since 1996, after the International Olympic Committee banned Afghanistan from competition in 1999 due to the oppressive Taliban regime's policy toward women.

Not only did the Taliban bar women from performing as athletes, this regime, which practiced a radical interpretation of Islam and which aided the al Qaeda terror network, also relegated women to worse than second class status. Women were forced to wear a burqa, a head to toe covering with only a small screen in the front for visibility and ventilation. Public beatings of women were permissible, while the education of women was not. Now, through the removal of the Taliban by U.S. forces, the benefits are being witnessed in Athens.

In an article in the Hindustan Times, Afghan sprinter Robina Muqim Yaar says she can clearly remember the day when she stopped wearing her burqa. "It was liberating, marvelous. I was very happy. The burka was not me, it was forced on many people by others," Yaar said.

"I am here to give hope to the women of my country," Yaar added in the Hindustan Times interview. "They can look forward to the future. I would like to see many more Afghan women competing in sport."

During the opening ceremony, Yaar told the Hindustan Times that the fireworks brought back memories of the American forces fighting in her home country.

"When the fireworks went off, it seemed like the fighting again. It was like the time the Americans arrived in Kabul and it also reminded me of all the years we were frightened during the Taliban," said Yaar.

For the athletes of Iraq, the games in Athens mark the first time in decades in which they can compete without fear of brutality, torture, disfigurement, or even death. Uday Hussein, one of the brutal sons of Iraq's sadistic former leader Saddam Hussein, was notorious for punishing Iraqi athletes who disappointed him or who did not live up to expectations.

The Boston Globe recently talked with several members of Iraq's Olympic delegation, and the horror stories were, unfortunately, numerous and sickening. Jamal Abdulkareem Al-Zubaide, who coached Iraq's national Tae Kwan Do team until 1997, told the Boston Globe that Uday accused him of trying to undermine his leadership and threw him in prison. Zubaide said he was beaten and shocked electrically during his two months of incarceration.

The London Daily Telegraph revealed in July that "medieval-style" devices were used by Uday to inflict torture on athletes. One such device was a suffocating steel mask that Uday forced underperforming athletes to wear. The Telegraph reports that "other instruments of torture included chain whips with steel barbs the size of cricket balls attached at the end and a full-body steel case with internal spikes that would have sliced into the victim when the two halves were pushed together."

In his weekly radio address, President George W. Bush noted that athletes from the United States "marched alongside men and women from Afghanistan and Iraq, nations that four years ago knew only tyranny and repression."

"Today, because the world acted with courage and moral clarity, those nations are free, and their athletes are competing in the Olympic Games," Bush said.

In his address, the president said that the rise of freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq is "transforming life in those nations, and its effect will spread far beyond their borders."

"For the first time in history, people everywhere will see women competitors wearing the uniform of Afghanistan," Bush said. "For the first time in decades, the world will see Iraqi Olympians free from the brutal punishment of the dictator's son."

The war on terror will no doubt be the toughest, most demanding war that America has ever seen. There are no fronts, no borders, no direct assaults, and no rules of warfare. The enemy hides in shadows and uses fear as its weapon. It will take the resolve of all Americans to see the country through to ultimate victory. In the process, the fight for freedom and the American way of life will find its way from our welcoming shores to distant lands and remote locations.

As the Olympic Games unfold, the progress in the war on terror will be seen in ways both tangible and spiritual. As Americans collect medals of gold, silver, and bronze, the world will see that although wounded on September 11, 2001, America in many ways is stronger than ever before. We won't be able to see the awe inside the athletes of Afghanistan and Iraq. We won't be able to feel the new sense of freedom coursing through the veins of these men and women. However, with a sense of pride, we will share their joy.

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Bobby Eberle is President and CEO of GOPUSA (www.GOPUSA.com), a news, information, and commentary company based in Houston, TX. He holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Rice University.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.