The leaders of Iraq's restored Olympic committee held out hopes Monday that the games could achieve what has so far proved elusive in their homeland: a pause in the bombings and street battles.
"It is possible," said Tiras Odisho, director general of Iraq's National Olympic Committee. "Iraqis are very sports-minded. When there is an important (soccer) match ... you don't see any fighting in Baghdad until after the match ... So there might - there just might - be a cease-fire for the Olympic Games."
The committee's president, Ahmed al-Sammarai, also gave a cautious prediction that the 25-member Iraqi team could unify the battered country into a state of "almost cease-fire."
But it appeared Iraq was moving in the other direction with the games opening on Friday.
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