Iraq National Flag.
This machine sewn synthetic-cotton blend with paint imprint Iraqi flag is double faced so that the Arabic inscription reads correctly on both sides. The national flag of Iraq was changed after the 1990 Gulf War. As used from 1991 to 2004, it bore the takbir, the Arabic term for the phrase, Allah'u Akbar (God is great). The takbir was reputedly written upon the flag in Saddam Hussein's own hand and subsequently; this flag, with the takbir, was adopted as the national flag. This flag also bears the three green stars added to the flag when the Ba'ath Party came to power in 1963, the three green stars are said to represent the watchwords of the Ba-thist philosophy, Freedom, Unity and Socialism.
The flag was widely used in Iraq by both the army and the ruling Ba'ath Party to identify official military and party buildings. The Ba'ath Party, which formerly ruled Iraq, played a prominent role in the Iraqi insurgency, and Ba'ath Party facilities were a source of both interest and scrutiny by the U.S. Army.
This Iraqi flag, along with a cache of valuable intelligence paperwork, and Iraqi Army equipment was captured in the summer of 2003 from a Ba'ath Party Headquarters building in the Al Amel district of Baghdad, by Company B, 3rd Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. Captured flags remain one of the most popular War Trophies for returning soldiers.
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC3718) in 2012 from Anthony Purtscher.
ZFC Important Flag
Sources:
Iraq, 1991-2004, Flags of the World, 23 May 2012, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/iq_evol.html#1991
Takbir, Wikipedia, 23 May 2012, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takbir
Baath Party, Wikipedia, 23 May 2012, from; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baath_Party
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
