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| Iraq |
| Some Sunni Muslims won't salute Iraq's new flag |
| 2008-01-26 |
| Officials in Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim Anbar province are refusing to raise Iraq's new national flag, which the parliament approved earlier this week. "The new flag is done for a foreign agenda and we won't raise it," said Ali Hatem al Suleiman , a leading member of the U.S.-backed Anbar Awakening Council, "If they want to force us to raise it, we will leave the yard for them to fight al Qaida." The dispute over the flag is a more accurate symbol of Iraq today than the flag itself is. "On nothing we are completely united," said Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish lawmaker. Although parliament speaker Mahmoud al Mashhadani said the new flag would be raised immediately across Iraq after the parliament approved it Tuesday, it is nowhere to be seen. In fact, when the parliament met Wednesday, the old flag was still behind the speaker and his two deputies. While the Anbar Awakening Council vowed never to raise the new flag, U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki praised the council for standing against al Qaida in Iraq. In a speech in Karbala, Maliki also pledged a new fight against Sunni militants in Ninevah province, where at least 40 people were killed in a bombing this week and a suicide bomber killed the police chief. Suleiman of the Anbar Awakening Council, however, said he was angry that the parliament and government toiled away on a new flag rather than dealing with the country's lack of services. Many Iraqis, including some lawmakers who rejected the flag, were angered at what they considered a change to the flag in order to please the Kurdish north and its president, Massoud Barzani. "We don't want to handle the problem of the Kurdistan region by causing problems with other regions that might refuse the new flag," said Nassar al Rubaie, the head of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr's bloc in parliament, who voted against the new flag. The new flag is temporary. According to Iraq's Constitution, the parliament must pass a new law that issues a permanent flag and a national anthem. Othman, the Kurdish lawmaker, said he expected people to reject the latest change in the flag but hoped that when a new, permanent flag was chosen, people would salute it. "Just as the Kurds were not raising the flag all these years, others also will not raise the new flag," he said. "I hope with time it will ease away, and I think everyone should look forward to the permanent flag." |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #18 RJimmy, I find the Alabama flag one of the most singular around. I keep thinking Dothan is Episcopalian. OT: Never met anyone from Alabama I didn't like. |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2008-01-26 22:57 |
| #17 She thinks my tractor's sexy It really turns her on She's always staring at me While I'm chuggin along She likes the way it's pullin' while we're tillin' up the land She's even kind of crazy 'bout my farmer's tan She's the only one who really understands what gets me She thinks my tractor's sexy ... Likeable song. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-01-26 22:36 |
| #16 Matter of fact I do indeed own an Allis Chalmers, it's an antique 1936 model "C" in running condition. (Overhauled it myself, new paint and new decals) Didn't think about a flag to find it in the mall parking lot. (Funny) However it does draw a crowd when I take it to the County Fair. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-26 22:28 |
| #15 "no Frank"? Are we holding grudges then? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-01-26 20:21 |
| #14 I drive a John Deere, Mr. Woof. Ever since I gradjeeated from Auburn University I wanted a tractor of my own and now I gots one. I'll fly the Alabama State Flag from it. Just over the Auburn Flag. Redneck Jim, I'm a 5th Generation Alabamian and know Mr. Woof fer a while. He wuz just funnin. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-01-26 20:14 |
| #13 LOL sorry Redneck... read my list... that was sark. I find the 'bama state flag to be top 10 material. makes it easy to find your Allis Chalmers in the mall parking lot |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2008-01-26 19:37 |
| #12 I for one find the Alabama flag offensive it looks like a nasty cross between the Cross-of-St. George and the CSA battleflag. It miffs me badly. I prefers the state-seal centered (no Frank) on a bedsheet look. Posted by: Thomas Woof 2008-01-26 12:57 I'll be just as polite to Woof, as he is to me. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-26 18:56 |
| #11 Thomas Woof's family has been in the old part of Florida for a great many generations, Redneck Jim. They've left interesting footprints on the local landscape. Do be polite. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-01-26 18:41 |
| #10 Sounds like B. H. Obama has friends in Anbar. |
| Posted by: Omung Squank9908 2008-01-26 14:02 |
| #9 By the way, just in case you don't know, I'm a lifelong Alabamian, and the flag is history, not hate. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-26 13:49 |
| #8 I for one find the Alabama flag offensive it looks like a nasty cross between the Cross-of-St. George and the CSA battleflag. It miffs me badly. I prefers the state-seal centered (no Frank) on a bedsheet look. Where you live? You sound like a transplanted Yankee to me. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-26 13:36 |
| #7 Well the one with the Allahu Akbar was made with a forign (Saudi) ageenda and desrves to be spit upon. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-01-26 13:04 |
| #6 Serioiusly tho.... Alaska New Mexico Arizona Maryland Hawaii Texas Alabama Ohio |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2008-01-26 12:59 |
| #5 I for one find the Alabama flag offensive it looks like a nasty cross between the Cross-of-St. George and the CSA battleflag. It miffs me badly. I prefers the state-seal centered (no Frank) on a bedsheet look. |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2008-01-26 12:57 |
| #4 Besoker, that was the battle flag they took off the state flag. It now contains the CSA flag which is actually the stars and bars. http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/Flags/us-csa1.html |
| Posted by: Beavis 2008-01-26 11:35 |
| #3 "The new flag is done for a foreign agenda and we won't raise it," Same thing we said a few years ago when they took the stars and bars off down in Georgia, whahahaha. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-01-26 11:08 |
| #2 Bribe us and massage our egos more, and then we'll consider it. I'll bet that if the troops handed the new flags out to the households when they poke their heads in to visit, the problem would go away. Of course, that would make the officials lose face... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-01-26 10:28 |
| #1 "The new flag is done for a foreign agenda and we won't raise it," How about producing one for an all-inclusive Iraqi agenda and removing the sectarian "allahu Akhbar" from it? |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2008-01-26 10:18 |