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U.S. rebukes Iraq's Kurds over flag ban
6.9.2006
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BAGHDAD,
September 5 , -- The United States criticised on
Tuesday a decision by the leader of Iraq's Kurds to
ban the Iraqi national flag, weighing into a bitter
dispute that has sparked threats of Kurdish
secession.
The U.S. embassy initially called a decree issued by
the president of Iraq's Kurdistan region Massoud
Barzani "inappropriate" and said it did not enjoy
U.S. support.
But in a revised statement later on Tuesday, U.S.
envoy in Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad said: "Decisions
on Iraq's national symbols must be made by the Iraqi
people as a whole through an established
constitutional process," adding that Washington was
committed to "Iraq's unity and territorial
integrity".
In the revised statement, the embassy did not give
any explanation for deleting parts of the original
statement.
After the Kurdish regional government banned the use
of the Iraqi flag on public buildings as a symbol of
oppression under Saddam Hussein, Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Arab, demanded the use of the
red, white and black flag saying only parliament
could decide on a new flag.
The dispute over Saddam-era symbols has exposed
deeper faultlines between Arabs and Kurds that,
along with rising communal tensions between Sunni
and Shi'ite Arabs, pose a threat to the unity of
post-war Iraq.
Under the constitution, parliament faces deadlines
on deciding how Iraq's 18 provinces can join with
others to form autonomous federal regions, an
explosive issue in the new Iraq.
Members of the Sunni minority, who dominated Iraq
under Saddam and made up the core of Saddam's
pan-Arab Baath party, fear federalism will lead to
Iraq's partition, with Kurds in the north and
Shi'ites in the south carving their own regions,
cutting them off from Iraq's vast oil resources.
Underscoring tensions among Iraq's warring
communities, Saleh al-Mutlaq, an outspoken Sunni
Arab lawmaker, called on Kurds to reconsider their
decision.
"We will never relinquish the unity of Iraq," Mutlaq
said.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said he supported
replacing the flag, which he called the "flag of
Saddam".
"Under this flag many crimes were committed,"
Talabani said on Tuesday, referring to Saddam's
military campaign against the Kurds, for which the
toppled leader is now on trial in Baghdad.
Reuters
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