IRAQ: Once closed, soccer fields now reopening

Call it soccer diplomacy if you like.

Not long after Saddam Hussein was chased from power in Baghdad in April 2003, the U.S. military began handing out soccer balls to Iraqi children. What better way to win hearts and minds than through the Iraqi national sport, officials said.

When the Marines deployed to Al Anbar in early 2004, for example, they had plans for soccer leagues for kids throughout the sprawling province. But the battle with Sunni insurgents put those plans on hold.

Soccer fields became killing fields. In Haditha, insurgents used the main soccer field to stage public executions of residents caught cooperating with the Americans, including Iraqi police recruits.

"We came here to start a soccer league," a Marine major told The Times amid the early fighting in Fallouja. "Instead they are forcing us to topple mosques."

But now with the security situation improving in Anbar and elsewhere, soccer is making a comeback, fueled by rampant interest and pride in the Iraqi national team.

Fields in Haditha and Fallouja are now being used for soccer games. The most recent field to reopen is the 17th Street Soccer Field in Ramadi, once the site of bloody fighting between Marines and insurgents.

A youth tournament was held by the North District Council of Ramadi, the North Precinct Ramadi police, and the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment.

Kareem Ali, chairman of the district council, said he hopes soccer will provide local youth with "some type of positive activity to help prevent insurgents from trying to get into their heads."

A citywide tournament and renovations to the city's main soccer venue, Mulaab soccer stadium, are planned, officials said.

Iraq is still a dangerous place, however. In some places insurgents have targeted soccer crowds for attacks, but not in Ramadi.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Young soccer players in Mosul, Iraq.  Credit: U.S. Army.