A new Iraqi flag, sans the three green stars of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, was hoisted over the Iraqi Cabinet building yesterday.
However, don't become too attached to it, it has only a one year life span, before it is altered again.
Showing posts with label flag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flag. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Flag Dispute II
Iraqi lawmakers have managed to temporarily resolve one of the least pressing problems facing their country, that of the nation's flag.
Yesterday they approved a new flag, thus appeasing the country's northern Kurds, who had refused to fly the national banner because of its connection to Saddam Hussein.
Unfortunately this is but a temporary solution, the flag will last for one year, until a more permanent design is selected. The temporary flag will no longer bear the three green stars representing the "unity, freedom, socialism" motto of Hussein's Baath Party. The former leader's handwritten "Allahu akbar" (God is great) will be replaced with an old-style Arabic font.
The question is, will there be united Iraq over which to fly a flag in ones year's time?
It is also likely that the change of flag will merely stir up trouble, drawing attention to Iraq's internal divisions, and not least wasting time on a matter of little practical importance whilst other more pressing matters need to be addressed with urgency.
Nero fiddling whilst Rome burns, is an analogy that readily springs to mind.
Yesterday they approved a new flag, thus appeasing the country's northern Kurds, who had refused to fly the national banner because of its connection to Saddam Hussein.
Unfortunately this is but a temporary solution, the flag will last for one year, until a more permanent design is selected. The temporary flag will no longer bear the three green stars representing the "unity, freedom, socialism" motto of Hussein's Baath Party. The former leader's handwritten "Allahu akbar" (God is great) will be replaced with an old-style Arabic font.
The question is, will there be united Iraq over which to fly a flag in ones year's time?
It is also likely that the change of flag will merely stir up trouble, drawing attention to Iraq's internal divisions, and not least wasting time on a matter of little practical importance whilst other more pressing matters need to be addressed with urgency.
Nero fiddling whilst Rome burns, is an analogy that readily springs to mind.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Flag Dispute
As if the Iraqi people do not have enough problems, it seems that there is now a dispute brewing over the country's flag.
Leaders of Iraq's Kurdish minority want the flag changed, and are threatening not to fly the Saddam Hussein-era banner during a pan-Arab meeting in the Kurdish-run north next month.
The parliament in Baghdad is trying to find a solution in time for the conference.
Haidar al-Abadi, a legislator with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party, said:
"It's a potentially explosive issue and we need to tread carefully".
The Kurds maintain that the colours of the national flag are not representative of all Iraqis and are demanding that the color yellow, which dominates their own flag, to be added.
Mahmoud Othman, a prominent Kurdish lawmaker, said:
"It is not possible to raise the flag in its present form, even for the meeting of the Arab parliamentarians.
The Kurds have been persecuted and killed under that banner. It must be changed."
Iraq has far more important issues to address at this time, than that of the flag.
Leaders of Iraq's Kurdish minority want the flag changed, and are threatening not to fly the Saddam Hussein-era banner during a pan-Arab meeting in the Kurdish-run north next month.
The parliament in Baghdad is trying to find a solution in time for the conference.
Haidar al-Abadi, a legislator with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party, said:
"It's a potentially explosive issue and we need to tread carefully".
The Kurds maintain that the colours of the national flag are not representative of all Iraqis and are demanding that the color yellow, which dominates their own flag, to be added.
Mahmoud Othman, a prominent Kurdish lawmaker, said:
"It is not possible to raise the flag in its present form, even for the meeting of the Arab parliamentarians.
The Kurds have been persecuted and killed under that banner. It must be changed."
Iraq has far more important issues to address at this time, than that of the flag.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Four Years On
Four years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, by the US, life for the Iraqi people can be reasonably described as being "pretty awful".
In the midst of the corruption, revenge killings, sectarian warfare and chaos that the enforced "regime change" has brought about there have been some attempts to instill a spirit of freedom and hope for the future. Yet none of these have captured the hearts or minds of the people of Iraq.
Four years ago Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled, for all the world to see, by US marines; this was a potent symbol of the regime's downfall.
However, nature abhors a vacuum. What was there to replace the regime?
It became all to clear that the US had not thought through its post regime change occupation, and indeed had very naively hoped that democracy "light" would magically take root.
Two months after the statue was felled a replacement statue, called Najeen (survivor), was erected. It shows a woman, supported by a man and a child, holding up an Islamic crescent moon that frames a Sumerian sun.
It failed to inspire and was derided.
The most telling sign of trouble to come is the fact that the "new" Iraq has yet to create a new flag. This failure is the most potent symbol of the failure of the invasion and enforced regime change, the inability to agree on the design of a flag means that the Iraqi's themselves do not see that they they have a future.
A country without a flag, is a country without a future.
In the midst of the corruption, revenge killings, sectarian warfare and chaos that the enforced "regime change" has brought about there have been some attempts to instill a spirit of freedom and hope for the future. Yet none of these have captured the hearts or minds of the people of Iraq.
Four years ago Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled, for all the world to see, by US marines; this was a potent symbol of the regime's downfall.
However, nature abhors a vacuum. What was there to replace the regime?
It became all to clear that the US had not thought through its post regime change occupation, and indeed had very naively hoped that democracy "light" would magically take root.
Two months after the statue was felled a replacement statue, called Najeen (survivor), was erected. It shows a woman, supported by a man and a child, holding up an Islamic crescent moon that frames a Sumerian sun.
It failed to inspire and was derided.
The most telling sign of trouble to come is the fact that the "new" Iraq has yet to create a new flag. This failure is the most potent symbol of the failure of the invasion and enforced regime change, the inability to agree on the design of a flag means that the Iraqi's themselves do not see that they they have a future.
A country without a flag, is a country without a future.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Sunnis Oppose Constitution
Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied on Monday in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, to denounce Iraq's proposed constitution a day after negotiators finished it.
Sunni Arab leaders, whose ethnic group was favored under Saddam, have urged people to vote down the constitution in a nationwide referendum which is set for October 15.
The demonstrators carried Saddam's picture along with Iraqi flags.
They believe that the goal of the charter is to divide Iraq along religious and ethnic lines. The Sunni member of the panel that worked on the constitution said that it would "worsen everything in the country."
Sunni Arab leaders, whose ethnic group was favored under Saddam, have urged people to vote down the constitution in a nationwide referendum which is set for October 15.
The demonstrators carried Saddam's picture along with Iraqi flags.
They believe that the goal of the charter is to divide Iraq along religious and ethnic lines. The Sunni member of the panel that worked on the constitution said that it would "worsen everything in the country."
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