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<font size=3>Apr. 26, 2004. 04:57 PM<br>
<img src="cid:5.2.0.9.2.20040427082827.02b35ea8@mail.freedomarchives.org.0" width=482 height=3 alt="a24d0a.jpg"><br><br>
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</font><font face="Times, Times" size=6>Iraq drops God reference from
flag<br><br>
</font><font size=2>LEE KEATH<br>
</font><font size=1>ASSOCIATED PRESS<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>BAGHDAD, Iraq Iraq's
U.S.-picked leaders approved a new flag for the country, dumping Saddam
Hussein's red-and-black standard. The new design is white with two blue
stripes, and although it has a crescent representing Islam, the flag no
longer bears the words "God is great." <br><br>
The new design not only abandons the symbols of Saddam's regime. It also
avoids the colours used in other Arab flags: green and black for Islam
and red for Arab nationalism. The change recalls the U.S. agenda of
creating a "New Iraq" that is exceptional in the Arab world.
<br><br>
The flag designed by an Iraqi artist and approved by the Governing
Council has two parallel blue stripes along the bottom symbolizing Iraq's
Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Between them is a yellow stripe representing
the ethnic Kurd minority. <br><br>
Above the stripes, in a white field, is a blue crescent of Islam.
<br><br>
The only country in the Middle East with blue stripes in its flag is
Israel, which has a Star of David on a field of white between horizontal
blue bands. <br><br>
Council spokesperson Hameed al-Kafaei said the designer, artist Rifat
al-Chaderchi, was asked to touch up the color of the crescent, perhaps to
a darker blue or a different color. The final version will be announced
later this week. <br><br>
"This is a new era," al-Kafaei said. "We cannot continue
with Saddam's flag." <br><br>
But the overhaul of a national symbol raised some complaints particularly
since it came from U.S.-appointed leaders. U.S. administrators previously
tried to alter the Saddam-era flag by dropping the words "Allahu
akbar" "God is great" but Iraqis refused to abide by the
change. <br><br>
One council member said the Iraqi leadership should wait for an elected
government before altering the Saddam regime standard, which still
decorates the uniforms of Iraqi security forces and flies above
government buildings. <br><br>
"In my opinion, it should be not be passed until we have a
parliament," Mahmoud Othman said. "I think there are issues
more important to concentrate on now than the changing of the flag."
<br><br>
The old Iraq flag had red and black bands across the top and bottom, and
a white band in between with three green stars. During the 1980s
Iran-Iraq war, Saddam added the words "Allahu akbar" to boost
the religious credentials of his secular regime. <br><br>
The new design appeared on the front pages of the Al-Sabah newspaper
today. <br><br>
"It is the real model as it represents all spectrum of the Iraqi
society," said one Iraqi, Mohammed Faris. <br><br>
Others were less sure. <br><br>
"I don't like the new one," said Dhia Assi, a bakery owner.
"The old one used to make me feel revolutionary. I feel this one
belongs to another country." <br><br>
Riad al-Saadi, 33, called the new flag "meaningless.'' <br><br>
"After we added 'Allahu akbar' to the old flag, we became more proud
of it. The crescent of the new flag does not represent Islam," he
said, adding: "The old one had nicer colours.'' <br><br>
In Arabic nations, the colours of flags have widely recognized meanings.
<br><br>
Green, white and black denote Islam harkening back to the battle banners
of the medieval Islamic dynasties of the Fatimids, Ummayads and Abbasids.
Green is said to have been the prophet Muhammad's favourite color; the
Saudi, Libyan, Algerian and Mauritanean flags are completely or largely
green. <br><br>
Islamic crescents in Arab heraldry are usually green or red. <br><br>
Red, meanwhile, points to Arab nationalism. It was the color of the
Sharif Hussein, who led the Arab revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule in
the early 1900s, and he added it to a flag of green, white and black
stripes to create a symbol of pan-Arabism. <br><br>
Hussein's banner was the basis for the Jordanian, Palestinian and Syrian
flags as well as the old Iraqi one. <br><br>
The only Arab League members to have any blue in their flag are the
African nations of Djibouti and Somalia.<br><br>
</font><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2><a href="http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1082975526428&call_pageid=968256289824&col=968705899037">The
Star Article</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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