Iraqi Lawmakers Vote To Change Flag

This is excellent news because it shows the Iraqi parliament finally becoming more cohesive and working together. Iraq's parliament voted in favor of changing its nation's flag from the Saddam Hussein era flag to a new version with the main benefactors of such a move being the Kurds. The Kurds of northern Iraq had threatened not to fly the Iraqi flag and that had caused quite a bit of tension. This move by the Shiites and Sunnis to compromise with their Kurdish brothers is really, quite significant.

Here's the full story of how they got it done.

Iraqi Lawmakers Vote to Change Flag
Jan 22 07:40 AM US/Eastern
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's parliament on Tuesday passed a law to change the Saddam Hussein-era flag, meeting the demands of Iraq's Kurdish minority who threatened not to fly the banner during a pan-Arab meeting in the Kurdish-run north next month.
The measure, which expires in one year, was approved by show of hands, with 110 lawmakers of 165 present voting in favor of removing the three stars and changing the calligraphy of the words "Allahu Akbar" in a symbolic break with the past.
A law to establish a new banner must be passed in one year.
The absence of Iraq's internationally recognized flag during a regional gathering on the territory of a founding member of the Arab League would have created negative publicity in the Arab world, where many see the Kurds as being too close to the Americans or harboring separatist intentions. In Iraq, not flying the country's flag would be seen as fresh evidence of the Kurds' go-it-alone policies.
To head off embarrassment for the Shiite Arab-dominated central government, parliament in Baghdad had scrambled for a solution in time for the conference.
"It's a potentially explosive issue and we need to tread carefully," said Haidar al-Abadi, a legislator with Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki's Dawa party.
Many Kurds remember Saddam's forces hoisting the Iraqi flag during campaigns of persecution that saw thousands killed with poison gas.
"It is not possible to raise the flag in its present form, even for the meeting of the Arab parliamentarians," Mahmoud Othman, a prominent Kurdish lawmaker, had said before the measure was adopted. "The Kurds have been persecuted and killed under that banner. It must be changed."