I think a serious thread is needed about this subject. I seriously want to know who had the brilliant idea of “giving” Iraq a new flag smack in the middle of a violent uprising ?
Are there callous bureaucrats with little notion of timing ? Or are their US officials who want to see more bloodshed ? What is there to gain by this for the US occupation ? Humiliating Iraqis is sport ?
Do they think putting white flags will mean pacified Iraqis ? Giving Kurds a yellow stripe of the flag will make 'em even better allies ? Can this be seen as anything but total insanity ? Maybe give Iraqi nationalism a new boost... around the old flag ?
Give me one good reason for this ?
There is only one. The mortally wounded hope that Iraqi “nationalism” will be the trump card, that pumping up the mirage of the State of Iraq as superceding petty tribal and religious squabbles will make the dream fact. And somehow, the Iraqi people will regard the handing of sovereignty to someone who promises not to try and use it as something akin to democracy. Perhaps democracy’s severely deranged brother, who they keep in the attic.
They overlook a ground fact: Saddam was Iraq, Iraq only existed because of the ruthless and absolute grip of Saddam. There was no Iraq without Saddam, there is no nation to profess loyalty to. They fear the future, they fear each other, they hate our guts, and they aren’t even grateful.
And…for the love of Christ!..didn’t anybody…anybody?..notice the distinct resemblance between the “New! Improved!” Iraq flag and the flag of Israel? Surely somebody must have noticed! This does for dumb what the Pacific does for wet.
Who put these Iraqis in “charge” ? The US ! Oh my God… so they don’t have a lot of legitimacy do they ? They could have waited for the June 30 at least ? It clearly comes across as a US not Iraqi decision, even if it was iraqis.
I rather like the flag. But since I saw it only on the internet and my screen has currently a big problem with colors (I see the two bands in dark green, not blue, for instance), maybe I’m wrong.
I like the concept of the two bands symbolizing the two rivers. The Kurds in the middle seems rather weird to me, though.
Come on John. You might think of those guys as legit Iraqis... but their brethen don't. The effect is the same. They were burning these new flags in Fallujah today. Was it in protest against their "government" or the USA ? Guess...
So instead of just poking around... tell me what good will this new flag bring... ok ?
The two rivers thing was neat… the yellow kurds in the middle is wierd for sure. Especially because the Kurds in the north are far from the rivers ? Maybe they should have made a direct reference to the Sunnis and Shiites ?
Fine then… step aside and don’t bother us. I guess I shouldn’t offend the free and elected officials of the Iraqi colony. They are so mighty busy governing that they have time to chose a white flag… Bremer’s CPA didn’t have time to do it for them. The political implications are the same no matter who did it.
Anyway, stepping a little above the barely restrained name calling… basically, this makes sense, from the quasi-governmental point of view. The entire setup is being moved into a Operation Illusion of Independence phase. The US - er, I mean, Iraq - has a vested interest in making the current CPA-based government look and feel as realistic as possible. These are the people who want and who are wanted to move into power as Iraq is eventually let off the leash, and giving them a flag to rally behind is a PRIMARY step in that direction.
Flags, remember, are very important symbols - probably the most important one a nation has. Giving the quasi-governmental thugs their own colors to fly makes them a more real government, and gives the people something to rally behind - something for the businesses to fly and people to wear showing they belong to a real nation.
So that is the why. Why now? Well, we’re rapidly closing in on Operation Illusion of Independence. Figure it will take a few months for the flag to a) be accepted and b) be widely used, and the IGC has their rallying banner. By the time they take over from the CPA, they’ll need all the power they can get, because they are going to be harshly judged on both the world and domestic scales.
Now people are rallying behind the old flag. Sadly they gave the insurgents the old flag for them to use. Since flags are very important symbols they shouldn’t be changed on a whim either.
Well, they sure as hell can’t keep Saddam’s flag. They are in a nation building position, and making new symbology and propaganda are primary steps, like it or not. That thing is going to be plastered everywhere for the next few months (can’t wait for the Olympics where it will get a standing ovation, eh?)
Yep, new symbology and such are important. The issues of Authority, TIMING and TASTE are very debatable. Also remember that Saddam only added the words on the flag. For most Iraqis their flag isn’t synonymous with Saddam. By chucking out the old flag your not chucking out Saddam’s legacy at all. (a bit of course… but not much)
