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Bullets Fly in Baghdad — But This Time for Celebration

By Gina Chon

A group of us were at a gathering last night in Baghdad enjoying the relatively nice weather outside after a slight dust storm had cleared. All of a sudden we heard dozens of shots fired. It sounded like a major firefight. Normally that would obviously cause concern, but some in the crowd knew the Iraqi soccer team was playing against Australia in a World Cup qualifying match that night. The gunfire meant that Iraq had won, and we later confirmed the news. The score was been 1-0.

Iraqis often celebrate weddings, soccer victories, and other special occasions by shooting into the air. So for about ten minutes, there was a nonstop barrage of bullets flying into the sky. That meant we all had to go inside the house to avoid bullets falling back down on the ground and possibly hitting one of us. In the past when other celebrations have caused temporary shooting sprees into the air, people have been killed or injured because of bullets striking them. It’s the old rule that what goes up must come down.

When Iraqis voted in their first free elections in decades in January 2005, dozens of bullets landed on my roof, littering the floor. I collected one of them as a souvenir.

It was a different scenario a week ago when the Australian team had defeated Iraq 1-0 in another World Cup qualifying match. It was a game that almost didn’t happen. Iraq was allowed to play after FIFA, the world’s soccer governing body, rescinded a decision that barred the Iraqi team from international matches for one year.

FIFA had issued the suspension after the Iraqi government dissolved the country’s national Olympic committee, which I wrote about here earlier. But Iraq said that decision did not apply to the Iraqi Football Association and FIFA ended up letting the Iraqi team play.

So even though they didn’t win that game, the Iraqis were just grateful that they could play at all. The American military was happy about the decision, too. I was interviewing a U.S. colonel in the Sadr City area of Baghdad when the game last Sunday kicked off. He smiled as he said he expected his area to be pretty quiet for the next few hours. Most Iraqis, including members of the Mahdi Army, would be glued to their TVs for the duration of the game.

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