Discontent in Iraq over new national flag

By Dean Yates

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi parliament's move to adopt a new, temporary national flag has provoked an outcry, with one city refusing to fly it and ordinary Iraqis attaching the old flag to their cars in a silent protest.

Iraqis have flooded chat rooms on the Internet with criticism of this week's decision, which had long been demanded by the country's Kurdish minority who say the Saddam Hussein-era banner was a reminder of his brutality.

Many Iraqi Arabs disagree. They see the old flag as having little to do with Saddam, a Sunni Arab, but as one under which countless soldiers died fighting for in various wars.

"It's shameful. Thousands of Iraqis lost their lives so this flag could fly ... Changing the flag ignores their sacrifice," said one Iraqi in a comment posted on an Arab chat room.

The new flag is very similar to the old one.

It is still red, white and black, but three green stars in the centre representing unity, freedom and socialism, the motto of Saddam's now outlawed Baath party, have been removed.

The phrase Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), added in green Arabic script on Saddam's orders during the 1991 Gulf War, remains, but no longer in his handwriting.

Officials in Falluja, a city in western Anbar province and once a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold, rejected the new flag.