can find another way to advertise himself.”
However, the Iraq delegation accused journalists of deliberately provoking an angry response from their players.
“Our purpose is not to politicise the football team in any way,” said Mark Clark, a consultant for the Iraqi Olympic Committee.
“It seems the story was engineered.”
The flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear in the Bush commercial ahead of the Republican convention later this month. Bush is seeking re-election in November.
A narrator says: “At this Olympics there will be two more free nations – and two fewer terrorist regimes.”
Asked to comment, another Iraqi player asked: “How will (Bush) meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes.”
But Clark insisted journalists were wrong to take advantage of the athletes.
“It is a little naughty,” he said. “The players are not very sophisticated politically, they are a little naive. Whoever posed these questions knew that the reaction would be negative.
“It is possible something was lost in translation. It’s a free, new Iraq and the players are entitled to their opinions but we are disappointed.”
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