Here’s Iraq’s new flag. It was approved by the Iraq Interim Governing Council on April 26th. The most striking features of the flag are its colours and its crescent. The crescent obviously represents Islam, but I don’t understand the blue colour. The two blue bands at the bottom are said to represent the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, so the overall blue colour may represent water and thus life as the Iraqi region is often labeled the ‘cradle of civilization’. However, many Iraqi’s are complaining that the blue and white flag looks like the Israeli flag and less like the flags of its Arab neighbours. The white colour, as it does in the flags of many other countries, may represent peace.

Here’s hoping…