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Brandon Brandon is offline
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Old Apr 28th, 2004, 01:42 AM        NEW IRAQI FLAG
[center:80199f9d42]
"Doesn't everyone want to be more like Israel?"[/center:80199f9d42]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Apr26.html

Iraqis Say Council-Approved National Flag Won't Fly

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 27, 2004; Page A15


BAGHDAD, April 26 -- It was supposed to be the perfect symbol for a new and unified Iraq: an Islamic crescent on a field of pure white, with two blue stripes representing the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and a third yellow stripe to symbolize the country's Kurdish minority.

But the new national flag, presented Monday after an artistic competition sponsored by the Iraqi Governing Council, appears to have met with widespread public disapproval here -- in part because of its design and in part because of the increasing unpopularity of the U.S.-appointed council.

In interviews in several Baghdad neighborhoods, a variety of residents expressed strong negative reactions to the flag, which was reproduced in most daily newspapers. In particular, people objected to the pale blue color of the crescent and stripes, saying it was identical to the dominant color in the flag of Israel, a Jewish state.

"When I saw it in the newspaper, I felt very sad," said Muthana Khalil, 50, a supermarket owner in Saadoun, a commercial area in central Baghdad. "The flags of other Arab countries are red and green and black. Why did they put in these colors that are the same as Israel? Why was the public opinion not consulted?"

Other residents objected to the removal of the phrase, "God is greatest," which adorned the previous national flag, and said there was no need for a new one until national elections are held next January and a new constitution is written.

Hamid Kifaie, the chief spokesman for the Governing Council, said Monday night that the winning design, by Rifaat Chaderchi , an Iraqi artist, was chosen from among 30 entries. A committee of council members felt best it represented the major values and attributes of Iraq, Kifaie said.

"This flag represents the democracy and freedom of the new Iraq, where the old one represented killing and oppression and dictatorship," he said. "We are not imposing this flag on the people; it was chosen by the legitimate representatives of Iraq. When a new national assembly is elected, it can decide whether to keep it or change it."

To a large extent, however, public objections to the new flag seem to be intertwined with broader unhappiness over the 25-member Governing Council, which many Iraqis closely identify with American interests.

Criticism of council members, and disputes among them, have sharply increased with the approach of the June 30 deadline for U.S. authorities to hand over power to a new interim government, which is to remain in office until elections are held early next year.

Some members have made it clear they want to be part of the new government. But both U.S. and U.N. officials here have suggested a clean sweep may be in order.

A proposal by Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special representative to Iraq, calls for the council to be scrapped and replaced by what he described in an interview Friday as a government composed of technocrats who are "acceptable to the Iraqi people." He said the United Nations would insist on qualities of "credibility, honesty and expertise," but would also seek a balance among major ethnic and religious groups.

In commenting on the new flag, some Baghdad residents quickly shifted to criticism of the council, saying it had no independent authority -- even to introduce a national emblem -- and was too deferential to American wishes.

"I will be delighted when this council is dissolved and a new government is formed," said Amer Abdulaimy, 38, a day laborer, who said he preferred the old flag and saw no reason to change it. "The council has done nothing for us, and it is the same as the American government. We need free elections."

As June 30 approaches, some council members have broken publicly with U.S. officials here and have become embroiled in internal spats.

Last week, when U.S. officials criticized a program created last year to review petitions from former members of Hussein's Baath Party who had been fired from government jobs, Ahmed Chalabi, the council member in charge of the program, reacted strongly. Chalabi, an exile leader once highly favored by Washington, said the Americans' call to reform the review process was equivalent to allowing former Nazis to return to power in Germany.

Meanwhile, aides to Chalabi excoriated Adnan Pachachi, another council member. In an essay Monday in the newspaper published by Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, Pachachi was accused of being a dictator and a paranoid power-monger who was working with U.S. authorities to squeeze political party leaders out of the new government.

Special correspondent Huda Lazin contributed to this report.
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Old Apr 28th, 2004, 10:28 AM       
"presented Monday after an artistic competition sponsored by the Iraqi Governing Council"

Uh huh. I'd really, really like to know what actual Iraqi picked those colors. Cause I'm thinking however he was had a shocking lack of knowledge about the region, for an Iraqi, I mean.
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Old Apr 28th, 2004, 10:32 AM       
Quote:
chosen from among 30 entries
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Old Apr 28th, 2004, 05:05 PM       
What was the prize?
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Old Apr 28th, 2004, 05:45 PM       
As nice and symbolic as a flag is, wouldn't that be one of the last things you worry about?

And I thought the Muslim crescent was green.
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Old Apr 28th, 2004, 05:54 PM       
As many colors as there are, why would they pick the colours of the most hated state in the region?
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Old Apr 28th, 2004, 08:34 PM       
I think we figured a flag was something we could pull of, but obviously the advice of a reasonably intelligent school kid would have helped. I think in the way that all flags are symbollic, it's symbollic of the fact that we can't get anything right in Iraq.

And don't give me and crapola about how we didn't desiign this flag, and that is was vetted by Iraqis. It was vetted by our pet iraqis and even they don't like us that much. I also reallyt want to know who came up with the actual design. Cause I have this idea that h3e's about as Iraqi as I am.
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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 03:53 PM       
ahaha. the white area of the flag is suppose to symbolize "peace" but the last time I checked a white flag meant "I surrender"
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Old Apr 30th, 2004, 02:19 PM       
Quote:
Originally Posted by mesobe
ahaha. the white area of the flag is suppose to symbolize "peace" but the last time I checked a white flag meant "I surrender"
:/ - Check again, it isn't a white flag.
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Old Apr 30th, 2004, 05:30 PM       
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Originally Posted by mesobe
ahaha. the white area of the flag is suppose to symbolize "peace" but the last time I checked a white flag meant "I surrender"
That would be a plain white flag.
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Old Apr 30th, 2004, 06:39 PM       
oh please. is this the same bunch of people who say that anyone who lives in North West Hemisphere are "americans" ?
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Old Apr 30th, 2004, 07:21 PM       
What? I have no idea what that means, let alone what it has to do with the current discussion.
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Old May 1st, 2004, 12:25 PM       
yup. It was bound to go over a few heads in this forum.
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Old May 1st, 2004, 07:51 PM       
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Originally Posted by mesobe
oh please. is this the same bunch of people who say that anyone who lives in North West Hemisphere are "americans" ?
Where'd you get that idea?
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Old May 1st, 2004, 07:54 PM       
Mesobe, your the worst canadian ever.
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Old May 2nd, 2004, 11:53 AM       
no, Im the worst Calgarian ever
the flames fucking suck.
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