American Flag Flap

ABCNews.com ^ | 4/10/2003 | ABC News

[knuthom]

It took Cpl. Edward Chin just seconds to hang an American flag on the head of Saddam Hussein's statue in central Baghdad, but it's a move that's likely to be debated for years to come.

The mood of Iraqi civilians was briefly muted in Baghdad Wednesday as Chin climbed up and covered Saddam's face with an American flag.

The crowd's loud cheers faded, and in less than a minute the Stars and Stripes was removed from the massive statue and replaced with Iraq's black, white and red flag.

Chin's move touched a sensitive chord among Arabs and irritated U.S. military leaders who want Iraqis to view U.S. forces as liberators, not occupiers.

Chin, of the 3rd battalion, 4th Marines regiment, says he was just following orders in the minutes before the statue was pulled to the ground in a joint effort by jubilant Iraqis and U.S. troops.

Following Orders

"I was just trying my best to get the chain around his neck and put the flag on his head," Chin told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "Pretty much at the moment I was just doing what I was told to do by my commanding officer," he said.

The televised gesture drew mixed reactions around the world and anger from a commentator on the Arab news network al Arabiya.

"That should have been the Iraqi flag," said an al Arabiya announcer.

U.S. military leaders have set boundaries on American flag displays in an effort to avoid provoking Arab emotions over the war in Iraq. U.S. troops have been ordered not to display flags, whether the American flag or those of their military unit, in Iraq.

When Marines briefly raised the flag after moving into the southern Iraqi city of Umm Qasr in late March, the commander of the war in Iraq Gen. Tommy Franks said he was pleased with their decision to removed the flag quickly.

"I think that, in zeal, people will want to represent that they have achieved a certain milestone," he said, following the Umm Qasr incident. "And if you're from our country, then one of the first things that can pop into the young man's mind is to raise his national colors." But, Franks said, the job "had to do with liberation and not occupation."

Chin, from New York, says that in retrospect he can understand why some people might be upset by the gesture, but he says the American flag wasn't blanketed over Saddam's head in an effort to anger anyone. He says it was just their way of being part of the celebration that was taking place all around them.

"It was a crazy experience. A lot of people — Iraqi people — downstairs below us chanting, and just being able to do that … I'm still blown away," Chin said.

"And the flag — it was on the Pentagon when it got hit on 9/11. That was the same flag, and me being from New York, it kind of all goes together a little bit. It was a team effort, which made it even better, you know," he said.

Family Is Proud

Chin, 23, and his family are ethnic Chinese from Myanmar, formerly Burma. The family moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., when Chin was just a week old. Chin, a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, joined the Corps in 1999 and was assigned to the First Tank Battalion at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., before being shipped off to Kuwait in January.

His parents, Stanley and Lai Chin, said they did not know exactly where their son was until Tuesday, when his fiancee received a call from Chin saying he was OK and about to go into Baghdad.

They were watching the live pictures coming from Baghdad Wednesday when they spotted their son.

"Ah, that's him. My son. I so proud, and then I so happy, and then I cry, you know," Chin's mother Lai said. "I quickly call my daughter, and 'You know, my son is on the TV.'"

"I thought, 'Oh, my son, you are making history, you are part of the Iraqis' liberation," said his father, Stanley Chin.

Chin's fiancee, Anna Fu, 22, a senior at New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan, said she knew Chin meant no disrespect in draping the flag over the statue.

"He probably just wanted to show that freedom has come to the Iraqi people," she said.

[frosty snowman]

IMO - This is one of the most pointless and trivial debates ever. As if this one short moment in time is going to drastically change whatever the Arabs already thought about the US. Also, CNN pointed out that most Arab newspapers chose NOT to exploit this for propaganda value and showed other photos of the liberation of Baghdad instead.

[Political Junkie Too]

But my daughter and I were watching it live and we both thought that the crowd cheered louder when he put the US flag up.

I think that what they did was finally find a use for the tape of our NY firemen booing Hillary! at the Firemen's benefit. Maybe they spliced Hillary!s boos into the tape of Iraqi cheers.

-PJ

[tophat9000]

Yea this is the biggest BS out there

The crowd did not go quiet ther cheered louder when the US flag up...

I was watching it live on Fox

And if you watch the tape when the Marines took the flag off Saddam's face then handed the US flag to an Iraqi that was standing up on the base and he was waving it around and the crowd cheered more...

Also when the Iraqi had to get off the base so they could pull the Saddam down the Iraqi folded the US flag up nicely with respect

[Enterprise]

Thank your for the update. It just isn't possible to keep track of so much. It is great people like you on FR who help fill in the informational gaps. God Bless Corporal Chin and his family!

[Aggie Mama]

The crowd cheered with approval when he put the flag up. I saw it live and cried as he did it. They were definitely happy to see it there

[PennsylvaniaMom]

I too watched. When our soldier Chin raised the American flag, I cringed knowing the political repercussions. What a dufus move.

Repercussions, Repersmushions...the young Marine just spent the last three weeks of his life, living in a tank, dodging bullets, hand grenades, and suicide bombers. In his spare time he, no doubt, tries to get the sand out of his ears and nostrils. He probably misses his fiancee terribly, and wonders how he ever got so far from NYC...but I digress. In the heat of the moment, apparently at the command of his CO he climbs up a precarious (at best) extention of the tank, and after all that he and his fellow service men have been thru...he makes a statement...for them...for him...for NYC...for 9/11. HE IS NOT A DUFUS!!!!

And I watched it live too...and the Iraqi who handed their flag up to the Marines took the US flag and waved it himself.

[Jorge]

But my daughter and I were watching it live and we both thought that the crowd cheered louder when he put the US flag up. Can someone check on this?

Same here..they were cheering just as loud when the American flag was over the face. I saw it.
Rush said the same thing as he watched it.

This is nothing but the liberal media, repeating Arab propaganda that the American flag was symbolic of America's intentions to occupy and oppress Iraqis.

They must be really burning up at the images of Iraqis waving US flags and kissing photos of President Bush.
I even saw where the Iraqis painted "USA" on the base of a statue of Saddam which they then pulled down.

It is truly a bunch of nit-picking crap by those embittered by America's victory.

[Principled]

No, he's not a dufus. That's not at all what I said. Please read more carefully to prevent making such egregious errors.

I would also ask you to read fully. Pay attention to the last line of the post in question.

[Sparky760]

I was just happy to see a US soldier displaying an American flag. If some people didn't like that........well, to bad.

[thatdewd]

But my daughter and I were watching it live and we both thought that the crowd cheered louder when he put the US flag up.

They did. THEY CHEERED. This whole "debate" is a bunch of manufactured crap, started by an islamist propagandist and now its being spread by thier sympathizers and other enemies of America. It was a FREAKIN' STATUE, not a governmental flag pole, for goodness sake, and it was only on the STATUE long enough for a quick photo-op. How sad it is that there are actually people bitter and hateful enough to bitch about it. Apparently the media is attempting to make the American Flag an obscene object, something to be despised and hidden from view. If he had raised it over a city or a building, I could understand their protests (although I would disagree with them), but for them to whine and bitch about this is just sad, and the epitome of pathetic anti-Americanism.

[Jhensy]

This is just fodder for little leftist sh*tballs who are grasping at anything to tarnish the US/GOP's complete and total victory.

And ABC News will never recover from their performance these last 3 weeks. Holds will roll shortly, just watch.

[Jhensy]

Holds=Heads. Doh.

[abner]

I have it recorded. I will have to go through a lot of recording to find it though. I'll see what I can find.

[Jorge]

I agree it is BS.

They are clearly upset at the great welcome US troops got in Baghdad.
ABC made it a big deal on their web site..it makes me so mad. What liars they are.
I wish there was some way we could let them know what we think about their putting out this kind of nonsense.

[Pukka Puck]

I heard the crowd roar too,

That Chin is one brave guy. He was very high up on standing on the very top of that boom, with no safety belt. I would have been too afraid of heights to do what he did. I was glad to see a buddy of his climb up behind him and try to steady him by holding onto his legs, but still, it was a very precarious spot, with no hand holds to grab hold of if he has slipped while staining to get that heavy chain around the neck of the statue.

Chin is my hero.

[Eastbound]

I wasn't able to measure the crowd response volume, but the crowd activity seemed to peak when the Stars and Stripes was draped across the statue of the ex-tyrant's face. Regardless of the response, our military had every right to raise our banner first as a symbolic gesture, even if only momentarily. The spilled blood of our military demanded at least that much. Screw anyone who would deny that right.

[PaulNYC]

The crowd did cheer loudly, I watched it live. I remember feeling good about yet another "dish of crow" to be fed to the naysayers...the crowd cheered LOUDER when the Iraqi flag went up, rightfully so. The only controversey will be created by those who were already wrong about the war, they need something new to whine about.

[The Sons of Liberty]

I don't care what is politically correct, I salute Cpl Chin. American blood bought him the right to hang the Stars and Stripes on Saddam's head.

[tubebender]

This is total Bullship. The liberal media is groping for some relevance after getting their butts kicked by our Troops. Cnn harped on this all day yesterday. It's a non starter in my book.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Can somebody explain this to me: Why is this kid taking the heat for what his commanding officer ordered? Why isn't the commanding officer's name turning up in these media reports? Why isn't the commanding officer being put in front of the cameras by his commanding officers to apologize for ordering his subordinates to violate orders from the very top? What kind of commanding officer lets one of his subordinates take the heat for the officer's error?