Fallujah refuses to adopt new Iraqi flag

Baghdad: Officials in Fallujah in Iraq's western Anbar province said they would not fly the new flag that the prime minister raised over parliament on Tuesday.

"This is a disaster ... I am using the old flag in my office and at home," said Fallujah Mayor Saad Rasheed.

Residents who saw the old flag as having little to do with Saddam Hussain, have also been attaching the old flag to their cars in a silent protest.

The new flag, which has been approved for a year, is still red, white and black but no longer has the three green stars in the centre to represent the motto of Saddam's now outlawed Baath party.

The phrase Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), added in green Arabic script in Saddam's handwriting, has been changed to a different script.