Ban Iranian Team from World Cup

Here's an idea.

From SeattleTimes.com:

Republican Senate candidate Mike McGavick has a plan to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions: Bar its national team from the soccer field.

McGavick, who is challenging Sen. Maria Cantwell in November, wants the international soccer federation to disinvite Iran from the wildly popular World Cup soccer tournament.

Iran, one of 32 teams to make the cut, is slated to play its opening match in Nuremberg, Germany, on June 11.

The initial reaction to McGavick's proposal among some politicians, local blogs and Iranian students in views posted on the Web ranged from laughter to outrage.

"This is not a trivial matter," McGavick said in an interview. "The world needs to use all the tools at its disposal against Iran. It needs to see that it's an outlaw state."

Playing in Nuremberg has a symbolic element since it's where the WWII war crimes trials were held. War crimes involved with the attempted annihilation of all Jews, something the current leadership of Iran is espousing. As such, I'm not adverse to McGavrick's proposal if, for no other reason, than to make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an unhappy tyrant.