More on the Iraqi Flag

[k hanly <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Burning with anger: Iraqis infuriated by new flag that was designed in
London
By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad and David Usborne in Baghdad
28 April 2004


For many Iraqis it was the final insult. Again and again they expressed
outrage yesterday that Iraq's United States-appointed and unelected leaders
had, overnight, abolished the old Iraqi flag, seen by most Iraqis as the
symbol of their nation, and chosen a new one.

"What gives these people the right to throw away our flag, to change the
symbol of Iraq?" asked Salah, a building contractor of normally moderate
political opinions. "It makes me very angry because these people were
appointed by the Americans. I will not regard the new flag as representing
me but only traitors and collaborators."

The outburst of fury over the flag highlights the extraordinary ability of
US leaders and the Iraqi Governing Council to alienate ordinary Iraqis,
already angered by the bloody sieges of Fallujah and Karbala. And yesterday,
in the hotbed of Iraqi rebellion, the flag was burnt in public in a
demonstration of public anger.

When, as expected, the controversial new flag is hoisted inside the security
of the Green Zone in Baghdad today, there is little prospect that the flag
will be fluttering over other Iraqi cities. When security officers at the
United Nations undertake the daily ritual this morning of raising the
standards of the 191 member countries up the white poles arrayed outside UN
headquarters in New York's First Avenue, for Iraq it will be the familiar
flag of Saddam Hussein's rule that is unfurled.

"So far, we haven't received anything about this from Baghdad," said Igor
Novichenko, who is in charge of such matters in the UN's protocol unit. For
now, he added, the old Iraqi flag of green and black, with "God is Great" in
Arabic script across it, will retain its place outside UN headquarters.

That is not to say that the new version may not be fluttering on First
Avenue one day. There are no great formalities involved in changing a
country's flag. All that is required is for the mission of that country in
New York - and the Iraqi mission is still open - to inform the UN of the new
design.

But in Iraq greater problems loom where insurgents will be able to
strengthen their patriotic credentials by sticking with the old and popular
Iraqi flag and portraying the new one as a sign of subservience to foreign
occupiers.

Already anti-US guerrillas are adopting the old red, white and black banner
as their battle flag, tying it to their trucks and sticking it in the ground
where they have their positions. This blend of nationalism and religion has
proved highly successful in spreading resistance to the occupation.

It is increasingly unlikely that the Allies will have any legitimate Iraqi
authority to whom they can transfer power on 30 June, as President George
Bush has promised.

As the security situation deteriorates in Baghdad, Iraqis are more often
refusing to reveal their family names when interviewed. Jassim, standing
behind the counter in his grocery shop, said: "That flag is not Saddam's
flag. It was there before Saddam and it represents Iraq as a country. The
whole world knows Iraq by its flag."

A further reason for popular anger is that many Iraqis are convinced that
their new flag is modelled on the Israeli flag. It is white with two
parallel blue strips along the bottom representing the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers with a yellow strip in between symbolising the Kurds. Above the
stripes is a blue crescent to represent Islam. Iraqis say the blue stripes
are suspiciously like those on the Israeli flag. They also ask why the Kurds
have a stripe in the new flag but not the 80 per cent of Iraqis who are
Arabs. Could it be because the Kurds are the only Iraqi community fully
supporting the US?

The old Iraqi flag was modified but was otherwise unchanged by Saddam
Hussein. It had red and black bands across the top and bottom and three
green stars on the white stripe separating them. Just before the 1990-91
Gulf War the words "Allahu Akbar",God is Great, were added to boost the
religious credentials of Saddam Hussein's secular regime.

The flag won the loyalty of many Iraqis who did not support the old regime.
Dhurgham, a 23-year-old student, said: "We cheered Iraqi footballers under
that flag for a long time. I feel it represents me as an Iraqi. I don't like
this new flag. It does not look Iraqi. It is more like the Turkish or
Israeli flags. The main reason I don't like it is that it comes from the
Americans."

When the idea of getting a new flag was first talked about last year, it
stirred up strong feelings against change. But the Iraqi Governing Council,
made up of former opponents of Saddam Hussein and Iraqis in exile during his
rule, has a well-established reputation for being wholly out of touch with
Iraqi opinion. The council approved the new flag, only asking the artist to
make the crescent a deeper blue.

"This is a new era," said Hamid al-Kafaei, the spokesman for the Iraqi
Governing Council yesterday. "We cannot continue with Saddam's flag." The
new flag is the work of an Iraqi artist resident in London called Rifat
Chadirji whose design was the best of those considered. He is also the
brother of Nassir al-Chaderchi, the chairman of the IGC committee charged
with choosing a new flag for Iraq. "I had no idea about a competition to
design the flag. My brother just called me and asked me to design a flag on
behalf of the IGC. Nobody told me about a competition," Mr Chadirji told The
Independent yesterday.

A cogent reason for changing the flag was that it was said to be
unacceptable to Kurds who saw it as a symbol of oppression. But Mahmoud
Othman, an independent Kurdish member of the governing council, said
yesterday that the leadership should have waited until a parliament was
elected before a decision on the flag was made