This Week In Vexillology #75

Last week, we took a look at the flag of Ukraine- but this week, we're heading to the Middle East to take a look at the newest version of a flag whose history stretches all the way back to the Arab Revolt- yes, that's right- you can't spell 'quagmire' without Iraq!

The basic horizontal tricolor of red, white and black has remained unchanged since the ascension of the Ba'ath party in 1963.  What has been modified over the years are the symbols in the middle. (More on those in a minute.)  The red in the tricolor represents courage, the white represents generosity and the black recalls the triumph of Islam- the symbols in the center have always been green, the traditional color of Islam.

Now to the good stuff- the symbols.  From 1963-1991, the flag of Iraq looked like this:

From 1963 to about 1986, the three stars represented hopes for Arab unity in the region- which started to dim after the breakup of the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria) in 1961.  That flag looked like this one, except it only had two stars (one for Egypt and the other for Syria)- this flag had a third star, representing Iraq and Ba'athist hopes that Iraq would join another union between the three countries.  Saddam Hussein altered the meaning of the stars in 1986 to represent the tenets of the Ba'ath party motto: Unity, Freedom and Socialism.

From 1991-2004, the flag looked like this:

The Arabic script between the stars represents the Takbir (the words Allahu Akbar, which means God is Great)- but the sort of interesting kicker to this is that the form of the Takbir on the flag is in Saddam's own handwriting.  (Bonus knowledge, thanks to Wikipedia:  as with other flags inscribed with Arabic script, the hoist is to the right of the front of the flag- so instead of having the flagpole on the left side of the image, it'd be on the right.)

From 2004-2008, the flag remained the same, only this time the Takbir was cast in the traditional Kufic script- which is used, before the stars were dropped and the flag assumed it's present form.

So I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same- (the irony of applying that statement to the region's geopolitical mess is not lost on me either.)  Give it up for the flag of Iraq- and remember, until next time, keep your flags flying- FREAK or otherwise.