It ended up being the icing on the cake. Iraq’s coronation as Persian Gulf champions ended to end a tournament that had reintroduced Iraq to the foreign stage.
The celebrations, however, were overshadowed by the reported deaths of at least 4 other people in a stampede that also injured dozens more before the tournament final on Jan. 19. Poor crowd control, egregious protection protocols, and mismanagement resulted in fatal chaos.
Instead of focusing on sports, the failure of the security forces and the resulting tragedy ultimately metaphor for the great ineptitude of the Iraqi government and burst the bubble of the two-week summit that had been the Arab Gulf Cup.
Hours before the start, it was clear that Iraqi government officials were not controlling the tens of thousands of enthusiasts who had descended on Basra’s “Palm Trunk” stadium. Government officials soon began discussing the odds of postponing the final tournament or even transferring it. to some other impartial country when news of causality began to spread.
However, the government expected such crowds and was much better prepared. We knew the game had sold out and expected those who didn’t have tickets to attend to collapse the game.
Only two weeks earlier, after attending the opening rite in Basra myself, I had written about how poor the crowd was. It was a close crisis as tens of thousands of other people were driven through the gates of the ravines.
The government’s failure to prepare for chaos is akin to the patchwork responses it has implemented to fight years of malign corruption and the collapse of public services.
Even the infrastructure of the football facilities highlighted how much of the preparation was built in jerry. Iraq has invested in the structure of a stunning 65,000-seat stadium in Basra, but what about the surrounding infrastructure?Dirt roads lead to the stadium. The lack of public transportation forces cars to run toward the stadium through single-lane streets, alongside pedestrians. And on January 19, an inadequate number of turnstiles and insurrectionary police contributed to the deaths of overexcited spectators. The government will be held accountable.
But as is often the case with Iraq, the government, in a press release from the prime minister, chose to forget about the unrest and congratulate the security forces. Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani said, opting not to deal directly with the deaths. Instead, he, thanking the groups and enthusiasts for participating in the tournament, had a sense of self-congratulations and referred to the prime minister’s “feelings of hope and hope. “pride. “
Iraqi enthusiasts, of course, took the opportunity to remind the government of their grievances, as the final was about to begin, unfurling a banner of Omar Sadoun, a young protester killed by the country’s security forces in a wave of anti-government protests in 2021. In total, some six hundred Iraqis died in the repression of those protests.
Promise after promise to replace through a series of governments has resulted in any meaningful action opposed to corruption. In November, for example, reports revealed that government officials had looted $2. 5 billion in public funds. However, this theft accounts for only one percent of the total amount. lost due to corruption since 2003.
All this money may have been used to bolster Iraq’s poor public services, increasing the crowd in Basra.
In Bassera, for example, more than 100,000 people were hospitalized in 2018 due to lack of access to clean water. Last summer, Basra also suffered consecutive days without electricity, despite high temperatures, and once again sent others to hospital after heat stroke and severe dehydration. It even had an effect on football matches leading up to the Arabian Gulf Cup, as forced cuts turned off the spotlights during matches.
Corruption can be discovered in each and every corner of the Iraqi government, adding the fitness sector. After decades of underfunding, hospitals are struggling to care for patients in urgent need of treatment. Drugs for public consumption are sold to private companies and officials pocket the profits
Even the sports sector has been plagued by corruption and incompetence. The Basra International Stadium opened its doors for the first time in 2013. The fact that the surrounding roads, turnstiles and access to the stadium have yet to evolve a decade later is directly linked to preventable deaths in last week’s final.
What was intended to be a joyful instance was unfortunately overshadowed by the loss of unnecessary lives.
Iraqis can be proud of their team’s good fortune in the Arab Gulf Cup. His government, however, has no explanation for why to be proud of him. The stampede in Basra deserves to remind the government that fighting corruption and supporting public facilities will have to do so now. a precedent for Iraq to make genuine progress.
Without it, each and every one of Iraq’s victories will be accompanied by an opposing purpose on its side.
The perspectives expressed in this article are those of and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial position.