By Aws Qusay BAGHDAD, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The home team lost but the fans were jubilant anyway on Sunday when the Iraqi football league final was held before a full crowd in Baghdad for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein more than five years ago. In a remarkable sign of the turnaround in the country's security, the 50,000-seat al-Shaab stadium in the centre of Baghdad was full to bursting with ecstatic fans. "Sunnis and Shi'ites! We are all brothers! We will not sell our homeland!" the crowd, bedecked with Iraqi flags, chanted and clapped in unison before the players took the field. Home favourites Zawraa Baghdad lost 1-0 in extra time to Arbil. But for Ridha Faraj, who came with his three small sons, it made no difference. "The stadium is full of people. That means Baghdad is secure," he said. "The result of the match doesn't matter. It is a victory for beloved Baghdad." Last year's final was held in the northern city of Arbil because Baghdad was too dangerous. Finals were held in Baghdad in 2005 and 2006 but much smaller crowds turned out. This time, there was not an empty seat, and a spillover of thousands of people milled about outside. "I am defying all the terrorists in the world. I am defying the bombs. I want to see this match!" said Hussein Ubaied, a teenage fan. Zawraa, Baghdad's top team, has suffered particularly badly during the years of sectarian strife in the capital. One player was killed by a sniper while training and four were wounded when a mortar round hit the stadium during drills last year. "Just the spectators coming is the real victory," Zawraa reserve striker Ammar Kadhim told Reuters on the sidelines during the match. Hundreds of soldiers were on hand with bomb-sniffing dogs, searching every spectator several times before letting them into the stadium. Senior government officials sat in the VIP seats. The Iraqi military showed off its new helicopters in a demonstration before the match to huge cheers from the crowd. Most fans supported the home team Zawraa, but fans in one small, enthusiastic section wore yellow shirts for Arbil. Football has served as a bridge across Iraq's sectarian divide, especially last year when the national team beat a much more highly rated Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup final last year. Even that victory, greeted with celebratory gunfire and spontaneous demonstrations across Iraq, was bittersweet because the national side was unable to play home matches and most of the players lived abroad for their safety. (Writing by Peter Graff, editing by Tim Pearce)
Cindy Sheehan, who emerged as a leading peace activist after her son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, speaks on the steps of the state capitol in Denver, Colorado August ...
