Iraqi Leadership Approves a Flag of a Different Color

Iraq’s U.S.-picked leaders approved a new flag for the country, dumping ousted President Saddam Hussein’s red-white-and-black standard. The new design is white with two blue stripes, and although it has a crescent representing Islam, the flag no longer bears the words “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”).

The new design not only abandons the symbols of Hussein’s regime, but 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 -- 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. Council spokesman Hamid Kafai said the designer, artist Rifat Chaderchi, was asked to change 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 Hussein regime standard. “In my opinion, it should not be passed until we have a parliament,” Mahmoud Othman said. “I think there are issues more important to concentrate on now than the changing of the flag.”