 |  | | Celebrating A Killing |  MAN is shot in the head, and
joyous celebrations break
out 7,000 miles A away.
Although Americans are in
full agreement that the
demise of Osama bin Laden is a good
thing, many are disturbed by the revelry.
We should seek justice, not
vengeance, they urge. Doesn´t this lower
us to "their" level? Didn´t the Rev Dr
Martin Luther King Jr say, "I will
mourn the loss of thousands of precious
lives, but I will not rejoice in the death
of one, not even an enemy"? (No, he did
not, but the Twitter users who popularised
that misattributed quotation last
week found it inspiring nonetheless.)
Why are so many Americans... |
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| |  | | THE FORCE OF
THE DEED | | WATCHING the talk
shows, thinking about
the tumultuous last
American decade,
reflecting on the death
of Osama bin Laden, I feel grateful
for many things but not least this:
the invisibility of the heroes.
For once it is the deed itself that
speaks. The deed, so often lost in
this age of celebrities and reality
shows and Donald Trump´s monumental
ego, stands unadorned. In
its daring, its professionalism and
its effectiveness, the deed is there,
making words look cheap.
The deed was that of the 79 US
commandos, who have met with
their commander-in-chief,
President Obama, and who are
known to one another, but are
unknown to us. For secrecy is their
covenant.
Dispatched from Jalalabad,
Afghanistan... |
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British Minister roots for Fifa WC bidding reform
AFP
LONDON BRITISH Sports Minister Hugh Robertson called for urgent reform of FIFA’s World Cup bidding process on Wednesday after fresh corruption allegations against the global football body.
Robertson, speaking after former England 2018 chairman Lord David Triesman accused FIFA voters of “improper and unethical” conduct, said the organisation should follow the example of the Olympics after the Salt Lake City scandal.
“Leaving FIFA is not on the agenda but all the effort at Government level is on trying to get reform at FIFA,” Robertson said.
“FIFA need to have a look at what the International Olympic Committee did after the Salt Lake City scandal and the reforms they made.
“Three cities are bidding to host the Winter Olympics with the decision in July, and there is not a suggestion from anyone that this is anything other than a fair contest.
FIFA needs to get to that position.” In testimony to a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Triesman named four FIFA executive committee members who had requested cash and a knighthood in exchange for their votes in the 2018 World Cup ballot.
Two other FIFA officials were named by the parliamentary hearing as having accepted bribes to influence the vote for the 2022 World Cup, controversially won by Qatar.
Although the allegations have cast fresh doubt on the dual votes for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, Robertson said there was no possibility the ballots could be held again.
“There is no practical chance of the process being re-run - that would be a huge admission of failure by FIFA,” he said, adding that Triesman’s allegations would be almost impossible to prove.
“I think we have to be honest as a country that Lord Triesman made these allegations in Parliament but they are going to be very difficult to actually prove because these were just conversations he had with individuals.” Meanwhile, British pressgave wide coverage to the fresh corruption allegations on Wednesday, with reports branding officials “sleazeballs” and “rotten to the core.” The Times reported the story on its front page under the headline “The Dirty Game”, while an editorial reflected that a “culture of tolerating corruption has permeated one of the most important international sporting bodies.” The Times called on Britain to take a lead in rooting out corruption in football’s corridors of power.
The Daily Mirror carried reports on the latest allegations in both its news and sports pages with headlines ranging from “Cup for Sale” and “Rotten to the Core.” The Mirror’s chief sports writer Oliver Holt commented that the scandal should not come as a surprise as under the stewardship of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the organisation had “become a byword for rampant greed and venality.” The Daily Mail meanwhile criticised the failure of English officials to blow the whistle sooner after being confronted by demands from FIFA voters.
An editorial in The Sun headlined “Sleazeballs” meanwhile asked: “Has there ever been a sleazier sporting organisation than FIFA?
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