Flap over flag design prompts changes
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's proposed new flag hasn't been officially unveiled yet, but the innocuous yellow, blue, and white standard has already raised so much ire in Iraq that a crowd in Sadr City yesterday burned a replica of the flag, which they condemned for looking too much like Israel's.
Ever since an Iraqi newspaper leaked the new flag's design on Monday -- and promptly sold out -- popular backlash has already led the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to promise a makeover.
At a time when Iraq's entire security and political structure hang in the balance, the fracas over a national symbol might seem a tempest in a teapot. But the handling of the flag issue suggests the 25-member Governing Council is out of touch with the Iraqi nation it purports to represent.
The strong reaction also gives a hint of the deep wells of anti-Israeli sentiment among Iraqis.
Only a few Iraqis knew that a new flag was in the works until Al-Sabah's Monday edition exposed it to the nation.
Iraq's current flag pre-dates Saddam Hussein's regime; the black-white-red-and green standard is meant to symbolize Arab unity, and is intentionally similar to the flags of Egypt, Syria, and Yemen.
The Governing Council, bent on erasing any visual legacy of Hussein's regime, commissioned an Iraqi artist living in England to design a new flag. The result: a mostly white rectangle with a small Islamic crescent, two light-blue stripes to represent the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and a yellow stripe to represent Iraq's Kurds.
''At first glance, it looked like the Israeli flag," said Abdulkarim Sharif, a 45-year-old watch salesman. ''This is not something that I could learn to like."
Critics also dismissed the flag for looking like a corporate logo designed by committee.
The artist who designed the flag, Rifat al-Chadirji, told CNN that the Governing Council was leading Iraq ''out of the dark ages," and refused to address the political flap over his design.
''This is a white flag which represents peace, a new era and conciliation," Chadirji said.
If this week's response to his flag is any indication, the political elite shepherding in that new era may need to improve its public relations skills.
''Why did they change it?" said Ra'ad Muhammed Ali, 29, an unemployed college graduate from Fallujah. ''The Iraqi flag didn't represent Saddam. We shouldn't change it every time we change our president."
The flag was adopted in 1963, when pan-Arabism swept the Middle East. Syria, Egypt, and Iraq adopted similar flags -- a precursor, they thought at the time, to uniting under a single government.
Hamid al Kifai, a spokesman for the Governing Council, defended the replacement for the familiar old flag, which had been making a comeback during last month's wave of anti-American protests.
''I think this flag is very beautiful," said Kifai, extolling the simple new design. But he quickly added a caveat: ''Now we have to have a flag different from Saddam's flag, but at the present time it is difficult to consult people."
It especially irked Iraqis that an appointed transitional body with few formal powers is trying to inaugurate a new flag, when national elections are planned for January 2005.
The crowd at prayers yesterday in Sadr City's central Mohsen Mosque had to make their own replicas of the proposed flag to abuse, first placing shoes on it, then spitting on it, before finally setting it aflame.
Yesterday, the head of the governing council, Massoud Barzani, released a new version of the flag, with a darker shade of blue to avoid comparisons to Israel's flag.
''This is a temporary flag and it might be changed again by a new elected Iraqi government," he said.
Correspondent Shatha al-Awsy contributed to this report. Cambanis can be reached at tcambanis@globe.com. 