To the U.S. Soccer Community,
I am writing to kindly request your assistance in supporting a youth soccer league in Iraq.
I am a diplomat with the U.S. State Department serving in southern Iraq on the Provincial Reconstruction Team for Muthanna Province. Muthanna is a poor and rural area long neglected by Saddam’s regime. On the UN’s Deprivation Index, Muthanna ranks dead last among all Iraqi provinces--18 out of 18. Unemployment hovers around 60% of the population. As you might imagine, unemployed and idle young men provide a fertile recruiting ground for the militias. I am hoping to counter that influence by giving the youth of the province a constructive alternative: soccer.
