They’ve revamped the Iraqi flag, replacing the design which represented Saddam’s regime with one that radically departs from all other Arab flags. Instead of using green and black to represent Islam, along with red for Arab nationalism and an “Allahu akbar” slogan, the new white flag has a blue crescent and both blue and yellow stripes. Supposedly, the crescent is an Islamic symbol while the blue stripes – which flank a yellow strip symbolizing the Kurd minority – represent the Tigris and Euphrates.

Sure. Whatever.

The problem is – and it’s a big problem at that – the flag was designed under the guidance of the Governing Council. To many Iraqis, the new design is little more than a symbol thrust on them by the U.S. through its hand-picked administrators.

In the effort to create an identity for a new Iraq which sets it apart from the rest of the Arab world without stripping the country of its religious and ethnic identity, the US and the Governing Council have utterly overlooked the importance of the people embracing their own symbol.

How ironic, when even the Department of Defense recognizes that the symbolism embodied in a flag is so powerful symbol that troops stationed and fighting in Iraq are still forbidden to fly the American flag.

UPDATE: It looks as if the new design may be short-lived, indeed.

White and blue have never been Arab colours, and are best known as the colours of Israel. The new Iraqi flag looks strikingly like the Israeli flag, with an Islamic crescent in place of the Star of David.

The absence of green, the colour of the Prophet Mohammed and the colour of divine light in Islamic mystical symbolism, provoked controversy among Iraqis yesterday.

After its image appeared in Baghdad newspapers, and drew a decidedly mixed response, Governing Council spokesman Hameed al-Kafaei said it might be sent back to its Iraqi designer, artist Rifat al-Chaderchi, to change the crescent to a less Israeli-looking shade of blue, or to another colour.