...from my mouth to God's ears...NOT!

Well, yesterday my cookies were burning about a lot of things--one of which was the prohibition against the Iraqi Olympic team participating in China. However, I am pleased to announce that in today's paper, an article by Amit R. Paley from the Washington Post, informs us that TWO of the SEVEN Iraqi athletes who had wanted to participate in the Olympics will be permitted. The article went on to explain the political bull-dukey stuff -- that Nouri al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq had "compromised the independence of the national Olympic committee" (????? I'm still scratching my head)...blah blah blah..."negotiations"...blah blah blah..."the government agreed to reestablish an independent committee and hold transparent elections for it by NOVEMBER"(**NEWSFLASH...the Olympics start NEXT WEEK...duh). An added bonus...FIVE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES have permission to attend the Olympic games as observers (not that I thought they would go as participants))(yet rolling my eyes now...a nice little perk). I'm sure they'll enjoy watching their remaining two athletes participate. (If they recognize them with their little face masks on...they were showing the air pollution in Beijing yesterday; so bad that athletes may have to wear filtered masks so they don't croak or something.) I'm sure the athletes who have been training their asses off while dodging suicide bombers and probably not even having access to a shower, air conditioning, and a cold beer afterward, are thrilled to hear about that.
The article goes on to say that this decision, of course, "...comes too late for five members of the team because the registration deadline for their sports "...
ha(d) already passed.