See, this just seems really stupid.
First, doesn't the interim government of Iraq have better things to do than hold contests for new flag designs?
Second, isn't it a bit silly to celebrate the self-rule of the Iraqis by having an occupying country-appointed governing council impose a new flag on them that they had nothing to do with creating?
And then there's the design itself, which really defies all reason.
You may have noticed that nearly all countries in the Arab world have flags that follow a certain theme. Let's take a look.
Egypt
Jordan
Palestine
Sudan
Iraq's Old Flag
Wow. Remarkable similarity, huh? These colors and themes must be pretty important to the Arab identity, sort of like our Red, White and Blue symbolize our identity to us. (FYI - The green and black symbolize Islam and the red represents Arab nationalism.)
Apparently, the great minds entrusted with governing Iraq see things a bit differently. Here's the flag they chose:
Whaaaa? Why, that looks completely different! I mean, you have the Islamic crescent moon there, that's good, but the rest is just out of left field. The two blue lines at the bottom are supposed to represent the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and the yellow line is somehow supposed to represent the Kurdish minority. Because, I suppose, they're yellow. Or they wet themselves whenever they see Sunnis or Shiites coming. Or they are "of the sun." Something.
One of the biggest complaints among Iraqis is that this flag not only does not bear any resemblance to the flags of their fellow Arab states, it bears quite a resemblance to the flag of another country in the region. I can't quite place it. Hmmmm..
Oh, yeah! It's Israel -- the country that kind of wants to kill them and is widely believed by them to be complicit with the United States in imposing foreign ideals and religions on them and basically wanting to control every aspect of their lives through military might and economic superiority.
These Iraqis.. sheesh, they just can't seem to see that we're on their side.
