On the convoy into our new home, I looked outside of the vehicle and noticed an old Iraqi flag. It was a flag that was designed and flown back when Saddam Hussein was still ruler of Iraq. It was red on the top, white in the middle and black on the bottom with the words God is Great in green Arabic writing and three green stars.
This interested me because not too long ago, the new government took the three green stars out of the flag in order to symbolize a new government and a new era for Iraq.
I didn't think much of it and just pondered it in my head for a while. Then when I got to the station, I noticed two different flag poles, one with the old flag on it and one with the new one.
You can see the one flag on the top of the police station and one in the yard, on the right.
This is the one that is on the pole in the yard. You can clearly see that there are no stars in the field of white. It is the new Iraqi flag, representing the new government.
As you can see by the flag on top of the police station, it clearly has the three stars. It is a flag from the old regime.
Both of these flags are in the same compound.
I asked Fawwaz about this (we nicknamed him Yoda by the way) and just smiled and said, "The people who fly the old flag like it better than the new one." The smile he gave me was the one he uses when he is hiding something or trying to get me to press an issue further.
"What do you mean by that? Do you mean they like what the old flag represents more than what the new flag represents?"
"Yes. The Sunni Iraqi's liked the old days when the Sunni were in power. They fly the old flag when they can get away with it. The Shia, or the government offices that are controlled by the Shia, fly the new flag."
So why do we have both flying here? Favoritism. According to Yoda, the police station wants to appear to be impartial and serving both the Shia government and the 80% Sunni population of Ramadi.
I get that, but a nation divided doesn't work out too well. Consider the United States back when there was a Union and a Confederacy, both with their own flags. Flying the "Stars and Bars" still gets some peoples' feathers all ruffled up. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was a civil war that wound up settling that dispute too.
Semper Fi,
m
This interested me because not too long ago, the new government took the three green stars out of the flag in order to symbolize a new government and a new era for Iraq.
I didn't think much of it and just pondered it in my head for a while. Then when I got to the station, I noticed two different flag poles, one with the old flag on it and one with the new one.
You can see the one flag on the top of the police station and one in the yard, on the right.
This is the one that is on the pole in the yard. You can clearly see that there are no stars in the field of white. It is the new Iraqi flag, representing the new government.
As you can see by the flag on top of the police station, it clearly has the three stars. It is a flag from the old regime. Both of these flags are in the same compound.
I asked Fawwaz about this (we nicknamed him Yoda by the way) and just smiled and said, "The people who fly the old flag like it better than the new one." The smile he gave me was the one he uses when he is hiding something or trying to get me to press an issue further.
"What do you mean by that? Do you mean they like what the old flag represents more than what the new flag represents?"
"Yes. The Sunni Iraqi's liked the old days when the Sunni were in power. They fly the old flag when they can get away with it. The Shia, or the government offices that are controlled by the Shia, fly the new flag."
So why do we have both flying here? Favoritism. According to Yoda, the police station wants to appear to be impartial and serving both the Shia government and the 80% Sunni population of Ramadi.
I get that, but a nation divided doesn't work out too well. Consider the United States back when there was a Union and a Confederacy, both with their own flags. Flying the "Stars and Bars" still gets some peoples' feathers all ruffled up. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was a civil war that wound up settling that dispute too.
Semper Fi,
m
3 comments:
Great thought about the united we stand, divided we fall!!!!!!! Right at this moment, our nation is divided but it's not stars and bars, it's elephants and donkeys!!!
Mom
So why don't the Sunnis and Shiites get together and design a totally new flag that they BOTH agree on?
Mom
That would be nice, wouldn't it?
Semper Fi,
m
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