Iraq deserves a BETTER flag . . .

[TeeYiYi]

I have been so bugged by the blatant symbolism that was built into Iraq's 'new' flags. Both of them. :eyes: It seems obvious to me, what the colors and symbols of their new flag SHOULD be and should NOT be. I know I'm not the only one here who wonders if Ariel Sharon's grandson had a hand in designing the flag with the blue stripes.

If the war in Iraq is truly about helping the Iraqi people then it stands to reason that they deserve a flag that would better represent them and that they can be proud of.

So I designed them a new one which stands for a unified Iraq, nestled in a field of green (stands for growth and Islamic ideals) between the Tigres and Euphrates rivers (two black stripes). A flag for a country that embraces its diversity — three peoples (three crescents) under Islam living together peacefully as one (one white star symbolic of Islam and the white dove of peace) and prospering together in a new democratic society that they sacrificed their lives to realize.




I had several ideas but this one was my favorite. There are dozens of ways that this flag could be designed that wouldn't be a slap in the face to the good people of Iraq. After all they have gone through in the name of a free Iraq, they deserve a flag that they can be proud of and that will give them hope.

This thread is for all of DU's amazing artists and designers to create a flag that Iraq might be proud of.

Calling all DUers — bring your ideas . . .

TYY


Edited to clarify that Iraq deserves a better flag than the blue and white one that has been foisted on them in the last few days. I didn't mean to suggest that there was anything wrong with their original flag. There was nothing wrong with the old flag. ~TYY

[flamingyouth]

1. That's a great flag!

Seriously, I really love it, and I think it's perfect for them. I wish we could talk the council into adopting it. I bet the Iraqi people would really appreciate it too!:hi:

[TeeYiYi]

6. Thanks flamingyouth. ...n/t

TYY

[chimpymustgo]

61. Your flag is striking. Beautiful. Meaningful.

Well done, teeyiyi.

[TeeYiYi]

63. Thank you chimpymustgo. ...n/t

TYY

[keithyboy]

40. Why force a new flag on them anyway?

Don't Christians believe that "God is great?"

[stevedeshazer]

2. What's wrong with the old one?

I like your design, BTW.

But imagine the outcry if a foreign power invaded the US and provided us with a "new" flag devoid of input from Americans, such as the one proposed by the "interim governement".

[nonconformist]

5. Since most Americans rationalize that flag worship = patriotism

There would be mass hysteria and unrelenting anger.

[TeeYiYi]

8. There's nothing wrong with the old one . . .

. . . but there's a whole lot wrong with the new one. If they are expected to have a new flag I think it should be a better reflection of who they are as a people and more indicative of their history as a country.

TYY

[stevedeshazer]

9. And I agree completely

The new one is awful. Yours is much better.

[TeeYiYi]

10. There are so many things . . .

. . . that are wrong about the war in Iraq. On so many levels. The new blue and white (and yellow) flag is just adding insult to injury.

TYY

[Endangered Specie]

3. Dont worry, the Iraqis aint gonna go for the new flag

ANyone notice that it Looks alot like the Israeli flag? that wont go over well in an Iraqi's mind you know.

[w13rd0]

4. That's certainly a far better design and concept...

...than what they've advanced. Of course, they only had 30 contestants in their contest for flag design as I understand it. Send that somewhere, or heck, email it to one of the Iraqi bloggers. They can either use it and advance it, or maybe see it as a jumping off point.

[TeeYiYi]

7. Thank you . . .

I'm surprised to hear they had 30 contestants. I would have guessed that they'd only had one. It didn't seem that the Iraqis had any say in their flag at all. :(

TYY

[Sparky McGruff]

11. I am surprised they had a contest at all...

I had my bets on it being a Hill and Knowlton Special. (That's the PR firm that manufactured the last gulf war)

[Sparky McGruff]

13. I'm surprised there was a contest at all...

I had my bets on it being a Hill and Knowlton Special. (That's the PR firm that manufactured the "reasons" for the last gulf war) I figured this was straight out of a marketing/PR firm, possibly "focuse group" tested on a few Republicans in Houston, to see how it plays with the right wing voters/donors.

[TeeYiYi]

15. Thanks for the link Sparky . . .

. . . Wow. Hill and Knowlton really are the epitome of PR propoganda! Maybe it did come from them. I wouldn't be surprised.

TYY

[SeveneightyWhoa]

12. Good stuff!

That's pretty amazing.
Good work. Do something with this! There must be a way to send it to the appropriate individuals..

[TeeYiYi]

16. Thanks SeveneightyWhoa . . .

. . . I hope they're not forced to keep the new blue one. This war is so wrong as it is. That blue flag and all that it symbolizes is an insult.

TYY

[Renew Deal]

14. That is a great flag. What about this one?

Juat add one star for the 51st state. Iraq

[TeeYiYi]

17. 51st state . . .

No kidding. What a nightmare.

TYY

[goclark]

18. Now That Is A Real Flag!

Good job!

Maybe now that they are truly liberated the country will be able to select your flag. Oops! I forgot that some Iraqi's-men, woman and children are dying as we speak. What a horror inflicted on these beautiful people by this Regime!!!

But, according to GWB and the new CNN/ Gallup poll, the Iraqi people are glad that Saddam is gone and they believe that the war was worth it.

The Bush Regime has destroyed this country and Iraq.

[TeeYiYi]

23. . . .

. . . this war makes me sick to my stomach. Fallujah is going to be our Mai Lai. :cry:

TYY

[soaky]

19. interesting story about this on Common Dreams

see common dreams:

"The new flag is the work of an Iraqi artist resident in London called Rifat Chadirji whose design was the best of those considered. He is also the brother of Nassir al-Chaderchi, the chairman of the IGC committee charged with choosing a new flag for Iraq."

yours is a much nicer design btw....

[TeeYiYi]

21. I figured there had to be . . .

. . . nepotism involved in there somewhere. :eyes:

Thanks for the link soaky.

TYY

[John_H]

20. That's a zillion times better than the chimp proposal!

[TeeYiYi]

22. Thanks John. ...n/t

TYY

[Vadem]

24. That's a beautiful flag! How could the Iraqis not love it!....

The question is, how do we get it to the ones who would vote for it?

[TeeYiYi]

25. Thanks Vadem. ...n/t

TYY

[BattyDem]

26. Wow, that's terrific!

:toast:

[TeeYiYi]

32. Thanks BattyDem. ...n/t

TYY

[Tinoire]

27. Beautiful. If I were an Iraqi, I would be touched at your gesture & care

Somehow though I think they'll want to cling to their old one but that is STUNNING.

[TeeYiYi]

31. Thanks Tinoire . . .

. . . I really appreciate that.

I just hope the people of Iraq know that there are Americans who see through the facade.

I'm sickened and disgusted by what's going on in Fallujah and all of Iraq right now. That blue and white flag was an additional insult piled on to the damage already done. :(

TYY

[Art_from_Ark]

28. Why should their flag be changed at all?

[Renew Deal]

29. That's what I'm saying.

:wtf:

[TeeYiYi]

34. It shouldn't be . . .

. . . nor should America and Israel be in Iraq murdering innocent women and children and pillaging Iraq's natural resources and plundering their national treasure.

That blue and white flag is an insult. — This war is an atrocity . . .

Fallujah is our Mai Lai. :cry:

TYY

[JohnLocke]

60. Bullshit.

There is not ONE Israeli soldier in Iraq "murdering innocent women and children and pillaging Iraq's natural resources." Retract your statement.

[TeeYiYi]

64. What do you call them? 'Military consultants'? . . .

Israel trains US assassination squads in Iraq

Julian Borger in Washington
Tuesday December 9, 2003
The Guardian

Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and military sources said yesterday.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has sent urban warfare specialists to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the home of US special forces, and according to two sources, Israeli military "consultants" have also visited Iraq.

US forces in Iraq's Sunni triangle have already begun to use tactics that echo Israeli operations in the occupied territories, sealing off centres of resistance with razor wire and razing buildings from where attacks have been launched against US troops.

<snip>

"This is basically an assassination programme. That is what is being conceptualised here. This is a hunter-killer team," said a former senior US intelligence official, who added that he feared the new tactics and enhanced cooperation with Israel would only inflame a volatile situation in the Middle East.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1102940,00.html

TYY

[eridani]

30. Not bad, but still not theirs

The flag should be designed by Iraqis, after a referendum on whether or not they want to get rid of the old one. At least you got the colors right.

[IndianaGreen]

33. Great looking flag, far better than the crap Bremer came up with

Perhaps we could adopt it for our own!

[TeeYiYi]

35. No doubt. ;-) Thanks IG. ...n/t

TYY

[Crunchy Frog]

36. I think it's a really great looking flag

however, I think the Iraqis should ultimately be the ones to design and choose their own flag. They should hold some sort of open contest for flag designers from all over Iraq, not the closed, nepotism type contest that they actually had. Narrow it down, with alot of public input, and eventually hold a nationwide vote on it.

They should go with a flag that gets the highest number of votes among all three of Iraqs major provinces and people. Ie, they should not go with one that got overwhelming support from the Shias but little support from Sunnis and Kurds. It has to be a flag that all groups can support.

The new flag that they've come up with seems almost designed to further kick the hornets nest.

[TeeYiYi]

37. Thanks crunchyfrog . . .

. . . I question the intent behind that blue and white flag. I really think it was meant to be a victory flag for Israel that no one would notice (except Israelis and PNACers). Their 'subtle' symbolic imagery turned out to be not so subtle at all. I think the whole world saw through their little ruse. I just hope that Iraq is allowed to choose their own flag rather than having that 'not so subtle' colonization flag foisted on them . . . just like two Bush wars, one evil dictator (hand picked by the BFEE) and 12 years of depleted uranium and ungodly sanctions have been forced on them. :(

TYY

[Crunchy Frog]

43. I expect they eventually will

choose their own flag, and that we won't have alot to say about the matter.

I really don't see a successful permanent colonization in the offing.

[TeeYiYi]

45. I don't either . . .

re: I really don't see a successful permanent colonization in the offing.

I don't see it as being successful but I do suspect they will try to colonize and supply the flag. :(

I really don't know how this war is going to end. And I become more doubtful about it every day. I guess the next year will be pretty telling. June 30 should bring clues as well as the November election. Hopefully by November we'll all have a clearer idea as to where this nightmare is headed.

TYY

[Borgnine]

38. Nice job...

...although you'll never get on the Iraq Governing Council with that mindset. Here's the flag I just got done designing for them:



Boy oh boy! Now there's a flag that the Iraqis can respect!

[TeeYiYi]

46. That's funny . . .

. . . you made me laugh. :thumbsup: re: you'll never get on the Iraq Governing Council with that mindset.

And thanks so much for the blue and white flag. That's not a color scheme I'd considered. How refreshing.

TYY :7

[Feanorcurufinwe]

39. I saw video of Iraqis in Fallujah burning the new flag

on TV5.

[BonjourUSA]

41. The islamic crescent is a mistake.

The secular feeling is still a reality for a majority of Iraqi people (how long yet ?) but this crescent is leading that the future of Iraq should be with an islamic gov

[TeeYiYi]

56. I have a question . . .

. . . Don't the Sunnis, Shias and Kurds represent different facets or sects of Islam? I thought Islam was the primary belief system of Iraq. :shrug:

TYY

[BonjourUSA]

66. Is there a cross on your flag ?

[TeeYiYi]

67. There isn't . . .

. . . And althought I considered it, I don't think it would be appropriate to include one since Iraq is predominently Muslim. Historically, except for a short period of British rule, the flag of Iraq has always had the crescent on it. My concept includes 3 crescents representing the three dominant cultures that morph and blend into a more contemporary continuous loop design, suggesting that the new multinational face of Iraq is becoming more diverse.

TYY

[dudeness]

42. great design teeyiyi

but the fact is Iraqis will not accept a flag foistered upon them by invaders or hand picked quislings and collaborators...the old flag (which predates saddam) will become a rallying point for the resistance..the invasion is a disaster.. this only highlights that fact..

[TeeYiYi]

47. I know that. re: . . .

re: but the fact is Iraqis will not accept a flag foistered upon them by invaders or hand picked quislings and collaborators

. . . It just boggles my mind that the collaborators in this mess had the nerve to suggest that an actual designer had a hand in that blue and white atrocity. Obviously, not one iota of design or creativity went into that flag. It was a con job and I'm glad the Iraqis are burning it. I created this one out of respect for the Iraqis to show what a real flag of Iraq could possibly look like and to show that not all Americans have been fooled by whats going down over there.

TYY

On Edit: Clarify the subject line. :)

[Karenina]

44. Stunningly beautiful, TYY.

It brought tears to my eyes. :hug: :loveya: :hug:

Any flag flown over Iraqi soil shall ultimately be designed by an Iraqi.
I gasped in abject horror upon seeing the "new flag." :freak: Ya know, this is ALL SO LOONEY-TUNES. Perhaps your design should be a "Patch of Solidarity" to be worn by those Americans who are outraged at the ATROCITY the *cabal is committing in Iraq. Those aware and brave enough to wear it PROUDLY might "arm themselves" with PICTURES AND DOCUMENTATION of whats really going on, to communicate the truth to "the People that you meet each day." At least those who have a shred of empathy, kindness and decency left in them...

*Amerikka's face is morphing into that of a rabid pitbull. Her brainwashed citizens claim for themselves that which they would deny to others. Her military is being horrifically misused to RAPE IRAQ. It is a BIG FUCKING DRAG ALL AROUND.

[TeeYiYi]

50. Thank you Karenina . . .

. . . I really appreciate your kind words. It sounds like you really understand the abject horror, shock and embarrassment that I felt when seeing the blue and white 'flag'. And then seeing the 'revised' blue and white flag. Gawd. Has this country no shame?

Anyway, thanks again Karenina. :hug:

TYY

[Kitsune]

48. Now THAT is a flag. *nt*

[TeeYiYi]

51. Thanks Kitsune. ...n/t

TYY

[Jacobin]

49. Damn. That's a nice flag.

However, I still think they should design their own.

[TeeYiYi]

53. Thanks Jacobin . . .

. . . and I agree. re: "I still think they should design their own."

However, if that's not to be, I believe they should receive a flag that has been designed to more accurately reflect their culture and the history of their country.

TYY

[IronLionZion]

52. soccer ball!

Beautiful flag. It kind of reminds me of a soccer ball.

[TeeYiYi]

54. You must be a soccer player. ;-) . . .

I see three crescents creating a continuous ring of peace and solidarity between three cultures living together as one. No fences. No segregation. No settlements . . .

TYY

[TeeYiYi]

55. Also . . .

. . . I forgot to say thank you. So, THANK YOU Independent429. I appreciate that. :thumbsup:

TYY

[Larkspur]

57. Excellent flag design!!

Do you have any Iraqi or Muslim friends who could review it?

You should send this to a sympathetic anti-Iraq war Congressperson and see if they can push this as the new flag.

[TeeYiYi]

62. Thanks Larkspur . . .

I don't know anyone from Iraq. I wish I did. I'd tell them how sorry I am for what my country is doing to them in the name of oil and corporate greed. I would apologize for twelve years of sanctions that devastated the men, women and innocent little babies and children of that country. I would tell them how mortified I am by the sheer numbers of birth defects in Iraq as a direct result of the depleted uranium left behind from the first Gulf War. And I would tell them that I dream of the day when I could visit a peaceful Iraq under Iraqi rule and experience the country for its beautiful people, its rich culture and its incredible artistic history.

TYY :cry:

[jmowreader]

58. It's a nice flag with one minor problem

The Shia, Sunni and Kurd populations of Iraq hate each other. With a passion.

These guys shot at each other until Saddam was installed, and now that Saddam has been removed, they're shooting at each other again.

A flag that "celebrates diversity" for a country that celebrates ethnic cleansing won't work. But it is a nice flag.

I'd let 'em keep the old flag.

[TeeYiYi]

59. One can dream . . .

. . . I would hope that they'd prefer to live together in solidarity than to live as seperate colonies under the American/Israeli flag.

TYY

[jmowreader]

65. They should do what Yugoslavia and the USSR did

Well, not the ethnic cleansing part, but you'll get the idea soon enough.

When the Soviets broke up, and the Yugoslav government broke up, those countries split into smaller states based on ethnicity and historical division.

It didn't work very peacefully in Yugoslavia because the different sects had intermixed over the years--there were Serbs living in Croat territory and Montenegrans married to Croats...quite a mess. Iraq is different--the Sunni, Shia and Kurd populations are geographically separated.

To make this work would require Turkish support; the Turks have their own Kurd problem, and it is widely believed that the Turkish Kurds will start raising hell if the Iraqi Kurds get their homeland and the Turkish ones don't.

On June 14, this is what should happen:

The nation of Iraq as it stands now will dissolve. At 12 noon, the land of Iraq will disappear and be replaced by the sovereign nations of Kurdistan, Sunniland and Shialand. These three lands will encompass all of the historical population boundaries of the Kurdish, Sunni and Shia people respectively except for a 1km wide neutral zone lying at the western edge of what is now Iraq, and a 10km wide "free trade zone" encompassing all of the current nation of Iraq's shoreline along the Persian Gulf.

At the same time, Turkey will cede to Kurdistan the territory now occupied by the Turkish Kurd population. Turkish Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan border each other, so this won't be much of a stretch.

The United Nations will assume governance of the three new nations, and a political campaign season will commence, where Shia, Sunni and Kurds will choose their future leaders. This is essentially going to be a popularity contest.

On August 14, an election will be conducted in each nation. It will be monitored by international observers. A president, vice president and congress will be chosen.

On August 15, the victors will board airliners to San Antonio, Texas, the home of the Defense Language Institute English Language Center. There, they will learn to speak English in a course that lasts until July 2005.

In August 2005, the new leaders will be enrolled in major American universities' government programs, where they will learn how to run a democratic government. At least twenty universities will be chosen, and the students will be spread out among them--if the president of Kurdistan is attending Harvard, the vice-president will not go there but maybe to Georgetown or UCLA. The fortunes of the PNAC cabal will be used to pay for this.

Upon graduation, they will return to their nations and will work alongside experienced UN leadership for one year so they can learn to put theory into practice.

In 2010, they're on their own.

[TeeYiYi]

68. You did give that a lot of thought . . .

. . . and it sounds like it could work. I would rather see it work as one multi-cultural nation. Especially since it seems that they have been working together in this war. But I'll take peace however I can get it . . . one nation or three!

Thank you jmowreader — for taking the time to write such a thoughtful post. :thumbsup:

TYY