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Washington, Tuesday, April 27, 2004 Iraqis Say
Council-Approved National Flag Won't Fly By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service BAGHDAD, April 26 -- It was
supposed to be the perfect symbol for a new and
unified Iraq: an Islamic crescent on a field of
pure white,
with two
blue stripes representing
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and a third yellow
stripe to symbolize the country's Kurdish
minority. But the new national flag, presented Monday
after an artistic competition sponsored by the
Iraqi Governing Council, appears to have met with
widespread public disapproval here -- in part
because of its design and in part because of the
increasing unpopularity of the U.S.-appointed
council.  In
interviews in several Baghdad neighborhoods, a
variety of residents expressed strong negative
reactions to the flag, which was reproduced in most
daily newspapers. In particular, people objected to
the pale blue color of the crescent and stripes,
saying it was identical to
the dominant color in the flag of Israel, a Jewish
state.
"When I saw it in the newspaper, I felt very
sad," said Muthana Khalil, 50, a supermarket
owner in Saadoun, a commercial area in central
Baghdad. "The flags of other Arab countries are red
and green and black. Why did they put in these
colors that are the same as Israel? Why was the
public opinion not consulted?" Other residents objected to the removal of the
phrase, "God is greatest," which adorned the
previous national flag, and said there was no need
for a new one until national elections are held
next January and a new constitution is written. Hamid Kifaie, the chief spokesman for the
Governing Council, said Monday night that the
winning design, by Rifaat Chaderchi , an Iraqi
artist, was chosen from among 30 entries. A
committee of council members felt best it
represented the major values and attributes of
Iraq, Kifaie said. "This flag represents the democracy and freedom
of the new Iraq, where the old one represented
killing and oppression and dictatorship," he said.
"We are not imposing this flag on the people; it
was chosen by the legitimate representatives of
Iraq. When a new national assembly is elected, it
can decide whether to keep it or change it." To a large extent, however, public objections to
the new flag seem to be intertwined with broader
unhappiness over the 25-member Governing Council,
which many Iraqis closely identify with American
interests. Criticism of council members, and disputes among
them, have sharply increased with the approach of
the June 30 deadline for U.S. authorities to hand
over power to a new interim government, which is to
remain in office until elections are held early
next year. Some members have made it clear they want to be
part of the new government. But both U.S. and U.N.
officials here have suggested a clean sweep may be
in order. A proposal by Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.
special representative to Iraq, calls for the
council to be scrapped and replaced by what he
described in an interview Friday as a government
composed of technocrats who are "acceptable to the
Iraqi people." He said the United Nations would
insist on qualities of "credibility, honesty and
expertise," but would also seek a balance among
major ethnic and religious groups. In commenting on the new flag, some Baghdad
residents quickly shifted to criticism of the
council, saying it had no independent authority --
even to introduce a national emblem -- and was too
deferential to American wishes. "I will be delighted when this council is
dissolved and a new government is formed," said
Amer Abdulaimy, 38, a day laborer, who said
he preferred the old flag and saw no reason to
change it. "The council has done nothing for us,
and it is the same as the American government. We
need free elections." As June 30 approaches, some council members have
broken publicly with U.S. officials here and become
embroiled in internal spats.  Last
week, when U.S. officials criticized a program
created last year to review petitions from former
members of Hussein's Baath Party who had been fired
from government jobs, Ahmed Chalabi, the
council member in charge of the program, reacted
strongly. Chalabi, an exile leader once highly
favored by Washington, said the Americans' call to
reform the review process was equivalent to
allowing former Nazis to return to power in
Germany.
Meanwhile, aides to Chalabi excoriated Adnan
Pachachi, another council member. In an essay
Monday in the newspaper published by Chalabi's
Iraqi National Congress, Pachachi was accused of
being a dictator and a paranoid power-monger who
was working with U.S. authorities to squeeze
political party leaders out of the new
government. Special correspondent Huda
Lazin contributed to this report. © 2004 The Washington Post
Company 
Nov 2003 Arab
television station is kicked out of
Iraq
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