Reply #6: Majority wanted Saddams handwriting and Baath party symbols removed from the flag

[ohio2007]

Saddam is gone,Time to move on

Iraq Parliament Purges Hussein Vestiges on Flag
BAGHDAD —Iraqi lawmakers adopted a modified version of the national flag on Tuesday, removing three stars that symbolized the Baathist ideals of unity, freedom, and socialism, and Saddam Hussein’s handwritten calligraphy of the Koranic incantation “Allah u Akbar.”

The incantation, which means God is great, will remain on the flag, though it will now be written in the Kufic calligraphic style of ancient Mesopotamia.

Parliament members voted 110-50 for the flag, which was introduced in 2004 and bears the red, white and black stripes of Iraq’s original banner. The design preserves a sense of continuous national identity, while purging the flag of Baathist allusions, supporters say.

Kurdish politicians, many of whom survived the genocidal gas bombings of Mr. Hussein’s Anfal, or spoils of war, campaign of the 1980’s, were among the fiercest critics of the old flag. In 2006, Massoud Barzani, president of the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, refused to fly the flag from government offices, prompting fear of Kurdish separatism.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/world/middleeast/23iraq.html?_r=3&ex=1358744400&en=8ed4bbcc2d181f1b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Saddam is gone,
deal with it