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| 5/25 |
| 2004/4/27 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:13408 Activity:nil |
4/27 So could they have made the Iraqi flag look any more like
the Isreali one? More proof that Bush is an utter moron.
\_ The governing council chose the flag. Not to say that Bush isn't
a moron, but this isn't a good example to use.
\_ url-p.
\_ http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/27/iraq.flag.ap/index.html
\_ The old flag is better.
\_ Yeah all that glory of god stuff on it is a good idea. right.
\_ You're an idiot. It was chosen by the Iraqis from a set of 30
entries submitted by other Iraqis. Most people aren't that idiotic
and obsessed. "Oh! Boo hoo! The Israeli flag has 2 blue bars and
so does the new Iraqi flag! It's a BushCo conspiracy!" You=moron.
\_ HAhahahaha.. *I* am an idiot? Ad hominem is the last
resort of someone who is losing an argument.
We shall see how the Iraqi's feel about it, eh?
Early reviews aren't too favorable.
http://csua.org/u/73d
\_ Yes, you are an idiot because you aren't smart enough to read
a sohrt article that said exactly who chose it and how that
came about and instead knee jerked your spluge over Bush who
had *nothing* to do with it. If the colors on the Iraqi flag
are the worst you can come up with for Bush's crimes then
you're giving idiots a bad name.
\_ Iraqi Ruling Council == Quislings appointed by Bush
\_ Nice try but no cigar, kiddo. It's a frigging flag.
Bush didn't sit down with Cheney and get on a video
call to the IRC and tell them which flag to pick. You
aren't even worth ad hominen at this point.
\_ http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com
\_ I don't know about the flag, but you are right,
the governing council has quite a few lackeys. worst
is chalabi. I said long ago that this guy is
a criminal. now even dumb and dumber knows chalabi
is bad for US endeavours in Iraq. |
| 5/25 |
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| www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/27/iraq.flag.ap/index.html It also avoids the colors used in other Arab flags: green and black for Islam and red for Arab nationalism. The flag, designed by an Iraqi artist and approved by the Governing Council, has two parallel blue stripes along the bottom with a yellow stripe in between. The blue stripes represent the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and -- because the river basin is Iraq's Arab heartland -- therefore symbolize the country's Sunni and Shiite Arabs. The yellow stripe represents Iraq's ethnic Kurd minority, taking its color from the yellow star on the flag of Kurdistan. Above the stripes, in a white field, is a blue crescent of Islam. 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. Council spokesman 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. 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. During the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, Saddam added the words "Allahu akbar" to boost the religious credentials of his secular regime. The new design appeared on the front pages of the Al-Sabah newspaper Monday. 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 favorite color; Islamic crescents in Arab heraldry are usually green or red. 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. Hussein's banner was the basis for the Jordanian, Palestinian and Syrian flags -- as well as the old Iraqi one. The only Arab League members to have any blue in their flag are the African nations of Djibouti and Somalia. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Story Tools 48 Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time! |
| csua.org/u/73d -> news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=515997 Again and again they expressed outrage yesterday that Iraq's United States-appointed and unelected leaders had, overnight, abolished the old Iraqi flag, seen by most Iraqis as the symbol of their nation, and chosen a new one. And yesterday, in the hotbed of Iraqi rebellion, the flag was burnt in public in a demonstration of public anger. When, as expected, the controversial new flag is hoisted inside the security of the Green Zone in Baghdad today, there is little prospect that the flag will be fluttering over other Iraqi cities. When security officers at the United Nations undertake the daily ritual this morning of raising the standards of the 191 member countries up the white poles arrayed outside UN headquarters in New York's First Avenue, for Iraq it will be the familiar flag of Saddam Hussein's rule that is unfurled. For now, he added, the old Iraqi flag of green and black, with "God is Great" in Arabic script across it, will retain its place outside UN headquarters. That is not to say that the new version may not be fluttering on First Avenue one day. There are no great formalities involved in changing a country's flag. All that is required is for the mission of that country in New York - and the Iraqi mission is still open - to inform the UN of the new design. But in Iraq greater problems loom where insurgents will be able to strengthen their patriotic credentials by sticking with the old and popular Iraqi flag and portraying the new one as a sign of subservience to foreign occupiers. Already anti-US guerrillas are adopting the old red, white and black banner as their battle flag, tying it to their trucks and sticking it in the ground where they have their positions. This blend of nationalism and religion has proved highly successful in spreading resistance to the occupation. It is increasingly unlikely that the Allies will have any legitimate Iraqi authority to whom they can transfer power on 30 June, as President George Bush has promised. As the security situation deteriorates in Baghdad, Iraqis are more often refusing to reveal their family names when interviewed. Jassim, standing behind the counter in his grocery shop, said: "That flag is not Saddam's flag. It was there before Saddam and it represents Iraq as a country. It is white with two parallel blue strips along the bottom representing the Tigris and Euphrates rivers with a yellow strip in between symbolising the Kurds. Above the stripes is a blue crescent to represent Islam. Iraqis say the blue stripes are suspiciously like those on the Israeli flag. They also ask why the Kurds have a stripe in the new flag but not the 80 per cent of Iraqis who are Arabs. Could it be because the Kurds are the only Iraqi community fully supporting the US? The old Iraqi flag was modified but was otherwise unchanged by Saddam Hussein. It had red and black bands across the top and bottom and three green stars on the white stripe separating them. Just before the 1990-91 Gulf War the words "Allahu Akbar",God is Great, were added to boost the religious credentials of Saddam Hussein's secular regime. The flag won the loyalty of many Iraqis who did not support the old regime. Dhurgham, a 23-year-old student, said: "We cheered Iraqi footballers under that flag for a long time. But the Iraqi Governing Council, made up of former opponents of Saddam Hussein and Iraqis in exile during his rule, has a well-established reputation for being wholly out of touch with Iraqi opinion. The council approved the new flag, only asking the artist to make the crescent a deeper blue. He is also the brother of Nassir al-Chaderchi, the chairman of the IGC committee charged with choosing a new flag for Iraq. My brother just called me and asked me to design a flag on behalf of the IGC. Nobody told me about a competition," Mr Chadirji told The Independent yesterday. A cogent reason for changing the flag was that it was said to be unacceptable to Kurds who saw it as a symbol of oppression. But Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish member of the governing council, said yesterday that the leadership should have waited until a parliament was elected before a decision on the flag was made. In the holy city of Najaf, 64 fighters loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr were killed hours after Washington issued an ultimatum to him to clear his militia and their arms from mosques there, a US spokesman said. |
| riverbendblog.blogspot.com -> riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ And while I, personally, am very interested in the custom leather interiors of the latest Audi, I couldnt seem to draw myself away from Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia while 700 Iraqis were being killed. To lessen the feelings of anti-Americanism, might I make a few suggestions? When Mark Kimmett stutters through a press conference babbling about precision weapons and military targets in Falloojeh, who is he kidding? Falloojeh is a small city made up of low, simple houses, little shops and mosques. Is he implying that the 600 civilians who died during the bombing and the thousands injured and maimed were all insurgents? What Im trying to say is that we dont need news networks to make us angry or frustrated. All you need to do is talk to one of the Falloojeh refugees making their way tentatively into Baghdad; Over 300 are dead in Falloojeh and they have taken to burying the dead in the town football field because they arent allowed near the cemetery. The bodies are decomposing in the heat and the people are struggling to bury them as quickly as they arrive. The football field that once supported running, youthful feet and cheering fans has turned into a mass grave holding men, women and children. The people in Falloojeh have been trying to get the women and children out of the town for the last 48 hours but all the roads out of the city are closed by the Americans and refugees are being shot at and bombed on a regular basis were watching the television and crying. The hospital is overflowing with victims those who have lost arms and legs those who have lost loved ones. The south isnt much better the casualties are rising and theres looting and chaos. The faces are grim and sad all at once and theres a feeling of helplessness that cant be described in words. Its like being held under water and struggling for the unattainable surface- seeing all this destruction and devastation. Firdaws Square, the place where the statue was brought down, is off-limits because the Americans fear angry mobs and demonstrations but it doesnt matter because people are sticking to their homes. The kids havent been to school for several days now and even the universities are empty. The situation in Baghdad feels very unstable and the men in the neighborhood are talking of a neighborhood watch again- just like the early days of occupation. I flip the channel every time they show shots of Baghdad up in flames, I turn off the radio as they begin to talk about the first few days of occupation, and I quietly leave the room as family members begin, Remember how No, I dont want to remember some of the worst days of my life. I wish there was some way one could selectively delete certain memories as one does files on a computer however, thats impossible. The day our darling Puppet Council has chosen to represent our National Day the day the occupation became not a possibility, but a definite reality. We were all sleeping in the living room because the drapes were heavy and offered some small security against shattering glass. The weather was already warm, but the blankets would protect the kids against glass. Their older daughter was, luckily, still sound asleep- lost in a dream or nightmare. I sensed her trying to read my face for some small reassurance I smiled tightly, Go back to sleep After a few more colossal explosions, we all knew sleep would be useless. It was still too early for breakfast and no one was in the mood anyway. My mother and I got up to check the bags we had packed, and waiting, by the door. We had packed the bags during the first few days of war they contained some sturdy clothes, bottles of water, important documents like birth certificates and ID papers, and some spare money. They were to remain by the door in case the ceiling came crashing down or the American tanks came plowing through the neighborhood. In either case, we were given specific instructions to run for the door and take out the bags, Dont wait for anyone- just run and take the bags with you came the orders. An area just across the main street had been invaded by tanks and we could hear the gun shots and tanks all night. She sat in the middle of her two children and held them close on either side. She hadnt spoken to her parents in almost a week now there were no telephones to contact them and there was no way to get to their area. She was beyond terrified at this crucial point she was certain that they were all dead or dying and the only thing that seemed to be keeping her functioning was the presence of her two young daughters. All I could do was react to the explosions- flinch when one was particularly powerful, and automatically say a brief prayer of thanks when another was further away. Every once in a while, my brain would clear enough to do some mindless chore, like fill the water pots or fold the blankets, but otherwise, I felt numb. It was almost noon when the explosions calmed somewhat and I risked going outside for a few moments. The planes were freely coming and going and, along with the sound of distant gunshots, only they pierced the eerie silence. My mother joined me outside a few minutes later and stood next to me under a small olive tree. In case we have to leave, there are some things I want to be sure you know she said, and I nodded vaguely, studying a particularly annoying plane we were calling buggeh or bug, as it made the sound of a mosquito while it flew. We later learned it was a surveyor plane that scanned certain areas for resistance or Iraqi troops. The documents in the bag contain the papers for the house, the car I was alert. I turned to her and asked, But why are you telling me this- you know I know. We packed the stuff together and you know everything anyway She nodded assent but added, Well, I just want to be sure in case something happens if we You mean if we get separated for some reason? You have to know where everything is and what it is By then, I was fighting hard against tears. I swallowed with difficulty and concentrated harder on the planes above. I wondered how many parents and kids were having this very same conversation today. She continued talking for a few moments and seemed to introduce a new and terrible possibility that I hadnt dared to think about all this time- life after death. There were moments when I was sure wed all be dead in a matter of seconds- especially during the horrific shock and awe period. But I always took it for granted that wed all die together- as a family. Wed either survive together or die together it was always that simple. As we sat there, she talking, and I retreating further and further into the nightmare of words, there was a colossal explosion that made the windows rattle, and even seemed to shake the sturdy trees in the little garden. I jumped, relieved to hear that sound for the very first time in my life it was the end of that morbid conversation and all I could think was, saved by the bomb. We spent the rest of the day listening to the battery-powered radio and trying to figure out what was happening around us. The day we sensed that the struggle in Baghdad was over and the fear of war was nothing compared to the new fear we were currently facing. It was the day I saw my first American tank roll grotesquely down the streets of Baghdad- through a residential neighborhood. There are thousands who werent so lucky- they lost loved ones on April 9 to guns, and tanks and Apaches and the current Governing Council want us to remember April 9 fondly and hail it our National Day a day of victory but whose victory? The atmosphere is charged and the day before yesterday, Baghdad was quiet and empty, almost the calm before the storm. The area of Aadhamiya in Baghdad is seeing street fighting: the resistance and Americans are fighting out in the streets and Al-Sadr city was bombed by the troops. Falloojeh has been cut off from the rest of Iraq for the last three days. Yesterday they said that the only functioning hospital in the city was hit by the Americans and theres no where to take the wounded except a meager clinic that can hold up to 10 patients at a time. There are over a hundred wounded and dying and theres nowhe... |