It will only tarnish the games to see three countries not attend because of Iraq's actions. Hussein should not be trusted. People of Iraq should understand the terrible threat that Hussein is to any person or country. If the people of Iraq rally around him and say it is an insult, when not included in the games, then those people are as much of a threat and messed up in the head as Saddam Hussein is. The State Department believes that not including Iraq in the 1996 games will not in any way hurt the image of the Olympic Games because of the situation.
Issues are minimal because of less involvement when just excluding Iraq.
Of course there is going to be disagreements on any decision but less are on the side of not including them. There are many opportunities of terrorism and a threat to national security, that taking this action is in the best interest of the United States. By Nathan Rubischko State Department Over the past century we have seen the Olympics used as a political display of power, however these games were originated to display athletic superiority not political superiority. With this in mind we should allow the athletes of the world to compete against each other in this international showcase to display their talents. The Olympics have been used in many different ways, sometimes to ease the tensions between countries in conflict and other times to show one countries power to an international audience.