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Iraq: 2004 IGC proposal

by Pascal Gross

Status of the flag

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Status of the flag

The flag was first reported by Reuters on 26 April 2004 as "a pale blue crescent on a white background and has a yellow strip between two lines of blue at the bottom." As for the symbolism Reuters quotes spokesman Hamid al-Kefaae who explained that "white stands for peace and a new start for Iraq". al-Kefaae also explained that the crescent represents Islam and that the blue stripes represented the Tigris and Euphrates. Yellow stands for Iraq's Kurdish population according to Reuters.

Jan Oskar Engene, 26 April 2004

This flag has been proposed by the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC). The IGC has no authority to adopt a new national flag (or pass any other law); all legislative authority rests with Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and CPA orders provide that all pre-war legislation remains in effect unless changed by CPA--not by the IGC. The IGC used the old (1991) flag at the recent presidential funeral and CPA uses the 1963 flag on its website. It is clear that the white-blue-yellow flag is not the "new Iraqi flag."

Joe McMillan, 27 May 2004

Today I managed to speak to British officials in the CPA to check the status of the new flag. The answer is that it is "a proposal" and has not yet been adopted. The Iraqi Interim Council that adopted the flag currently has no real power. It may be that the flag will be adopted when the handover takes place, but for the present the old flag continues. My colleague told me that he has yet to see the new flag anywhere (apart from in the newspapers). I have also heard that the flag's desi