New flag for Iraq

The Iraqi parliament has approved a new flag design, eliminating the three green stars from the center band of the flag:

old flag



new flag


The three stars in the old Iraqi flag were for Iraq, Syria and Egypt, which under their Arab nationalist (Ba'ath in Iraq and Syria) leadership were supposed to form the United Arab Republic. The United Arab Republic, in any form, hasn't existed in around 45 years, plus it reminds everyone of the Ba'ath party, so they ditched the stars.

This is supposed to be a "temporary" design for when a new flag is agreed upon, theoretically next year. I will, however, be taking 2015 in the office betting pool.

Update: Changed on 25 January because Wiki changed the images on me. The "old" flag now comes from Flags of the World.

Might want to say that more softly...

In a move sure to play well on Iraqi TV, George Bush apparently said that Israel is a good standard for Iraq to work towards, as quoted by the BBC:

"In places like Israel, terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks. The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it's not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that's a good indicator of success that we're looking for in Iraq."

Right. And Israel faces multiple suicide bombings and car bombings on a daily basis as well as sectarian death squads working within its army and police force that are leaving thousands dead. Uhhh, wait a minute... when was the last suicide bomb in Israel again? Oh yeah, but Hamas sporadically fires ineffective missiles at an isolated border town. Same thing as Iraq, pretty much.

Anyway, Iraqis, the point is that Israelis aren't letting a few stray missiles here and there prevent them from carrying out their responsibilities! Figure it out already, if you want to be like Israel! Take advantage of your freedom! (By the way, Iraqis, a good way to unite your population is to fight a foreign war. Maybe try that out... invade a small neighbor or something...)

Which Gulf is that again?

The New York Times published an editorial on the progress of rebuilding in New Orleans (not much) and how many people may get evicted from temporary housing because 18 months have elapsed.

The last sentence:

"Our grand plans were never laid, our brightest minds were never assembled, our nation’s muscle and ingenuity were never brought to bear in any concerted way to overcome the crisis of the Gulf."

Targeting democracy education

Last spring I was in D.C. for some discussion on what I would be doing, post-college, and I was privileged to speak to some people at a few democratization places about what, exactly, their organizations do. One of them is the National Democratic Institute. It's a group funded by donors and (in large part) by the National Endowment for Democracy. Essentially, their job is to advise national political players on how democracy functions, educate citizens on democracy if called for, help establish strong political parties, etc., etc.

Don't take my word for it; from their website:

NDI provides practical assistance to civic and political leaders advancing democratic values, practices and institutions. NDI works with democrats in every region of the world to build political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and to promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

I believe in this mission; I believe in democracy. The far left would accuse them of imperialism, or whatever tired old phrase they can bring out. I don't believe the NDI people are guilty of any sort of hubris or inflation of self-importance. This is not forcing democracy; this is education in creating institutions.

One of the conversation topics when I was there was the cost and danger of working in Iraq. Security consumes a huge part of the budget of any organization in Iraq because they are, of course, all targets. One unfortunate young woman has lost her life in a pretty brutal attack (possibly with rocket-propelled grenades) that also killed three bodyguards. She'd been in Baghdad longer than she'd been with NDI, according to the NYT article, so she was certainly accustomed to the dangers. Apparently she'd just left the headquarters of a Sunni party a few minutes earlier (the article seems to imply it was the Iraqi Islamic Party). Obviously (why do I say it?) this was deliberate.

This may be just another "drop in the bucket," considering 34,000 civilian deaths last year. But it's a death that resonates in a way with me personally, and my condolences go to the family of Ms. Parhamovich.

Bush on 60 Minutes

Good questions.

My favorite quotes:
"I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude. That's the problem, here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq."
"I think I'm a flexible, open-minded person, I really do. Take this policy. I spent a lot of time listening to a lot of people."
"[Saddam] was a significant source of instability."
"A unified Iraq, a young democracy will provide the stability we are looking for."
"Sometimes you're the commander-in-chief, sometimes you're the educator-in-chief, and sometimes you're both when it comes to war."

SWEET! THE PROBLEMS IN IRAQ ARE SOLVED!

As much as I try to stay away from Iraq, now I am optimistic. At first, I thought the fact that Bush was going in his own direction might possibly be like before, when he ignored everybody else to pursue an entirely inane strategy. But, according to The New York Times, there is a new foolproof plan as part of the Bush team's new proposal:

Plan Sets Series of Goals for Iraq Leaders

Even better,

Without saying what the specific penalties for failing to achieve the goals would be, American officials insisted that they intended to hold the Iraqis to a realistic timetable for action, but the Americans and Iraqis have agreed on many of the objectives before, only to fall considerably short.

Yes, but now we have something different, because

Plan Sets Series of Goals for Iraq Leaders

Sounds awesome! I am thinking about what the goals could be right now, perhaps:
(1) When you say you're going to confiscate cell phones, mean it.
(2) Establish a committee to talk about establishing cooperation between ethnic groups, and not have any parties walk out of the meetings, or any member of the committee disappear.
(3) Establish militia quotas so that only 90% of the personnel in any given government ministry can be members of the minister's party's militia. (They can still have 100% of the guns, though).

Before I am berated for sarcasm, has the Iraqi government actually done any of the above? (Maybe #3 in a few instances). Seriously, a government that cannot even carry out an internationally-watched execution with dignity, nor control its own supposedly loyal personnel to the point that they violate the ground rules for the procedure, cannot be trusted to carry out anything.

And perhaps I am a little pessimistic and cynical, but when the president rejects the proposals of a bipartisan study group and the feelings of the voters who demolished his party in the election due to this very issue, I expect better than a "series of benchmarks" and keeping already-tired troops in the country another few months.