Discontent grows over new Iraqi flag

Baghdad: The Iraqi parliament's move to adopt a new, temporary national flag has provoked an outcry, with one major province refusing to fly it and Iraqis attaching the old flag to their cars in a silent protest.

Iraqis have flooded chat rooms on the internet with criticism of this week's decision, which had long been demanded by the Kurdish minority who say the Saddam Hussain-era banner was a reminder of his brutality.

Many Iraqis disagree. They see the old flag as having little to do with Saddam, a Sunni, but as one under which countless soldiers died fighting for in various wars.

"It's shameful. Thousands of Iraqis lost their lives so this flag could fly ... Changing the flag ignores their sacrifice," said one Iraqi in a comment posted on an Arab chat room.

In fact, the new flag is very similar to the old one.

It is still red, white and black, but three green stars in the centre representing unity, freedom and socialism, the motto of Saddam's now outlawed Baath party, have been removed.

The phrase 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest), added in green Arabic script on Saddam's orders during the 1991 Gulf War, remains, but no longer in his handwriting.

Protest

The provincial council in Al Anbar province and leaders of a council of tribal shaikhs that have allied with US forces in the vast region have decided not to fly the new flag, the US-backed Al Hurra television station reported yesterday.

Officials in Falluja expressed hostility to the new flag.

"This is a disaster ... I am using the old flag in my [office] and at home," the mayor of Fallujah, Sa'ad Rasheed, told Reuters, adding he would fly the new one only if the Anbar provincial council decided to do so.

A long-running debate over whether to change the flag had been given urgency by a planned pan-Arab meeting of politicians in Kurdistan on March 10. Kurdish officials had refused to fly the old flag, which is banned in Kurdistan.

"They [the Kurds] say Saddam made it, but he did not. We refuse to change the flag because it represents us all," said Amir Sa'adoun, a Baghdad resident.