Posted on 06/27/2004 10:50:49 PM PDT by Southack
Edited on 06/27/2004 11:30:47 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Update:
IRAQ HANDOVER 'TODAY'
The handover of power in Iraq is to be brought forward to today.
A formal announcement will be made later today, Tony Blair said.
The informal announcement was made by Iraq's foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari.
The handover of power to an interim Iraqi government was supposed to take place on June 30.
Mr Zebari said the deteriorating security situation in the country was one of the reasons why the date had been brought forward.
"We will challenge these elements in Iraq, the anti-democratic elements, by even bringing the handover of sovereignty before June 30 as a sign we are ready for it," he said.
He added: "We have made some very good progress in terms of the new security council (in Iraq) and the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people to take away the level of occupation we have suffered a great deal from.
"There are many Iraqis who are standing up to the challenge. We are here to seek more help and assistance, training and equipment."
Hmmmm..having mixed emotions about that.
Awww, poor Danny Rather. Was Petah Jennings to be there to spew his lies?
CNN must have a naysayer list, and a very long one at that.
The flag, which was unveiled by Iraqi leaders this week, is intended to be a temporary replacement for the red, black and green banner that flew under ousted leader Saddam Hussein.
The new design comprises two blue stripes along the bottom, with a yellow stripe between them, and a crescent above them in a white field.
Its designer, UK-based Rifat al-Chadirchi, said: "It must be a powerful simple design. Something like the Canadian flag. Simple, straightforward very strong statement.
"That's what I tried to do. Just three lines and a crescent. Now, the background is white. It is peace, reconciliation and a new era."
The parallel blue lines represent the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers -- and by extension Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Arabs, since the river basin is their heartland
The yellow line represents the Kurds, while the crescent is a symbol of Islam.
Al-Chadirchi said the new flag represents the "ancient, the Islamic, and modernity."
He said the old flag was "graphically a very bad design" because it combined rectangles and trapezoids. "A flag must never use irregular form," he added.
The stripes and crescent on the new flag are a considerably darker shade of blue than an earlier version published in an Iraqi newspaper, which showed the stripes as being light blue.
Many said the light blue stripes were reminiscent of the light blue bands on the Israeli flag.
The former Iraqi flag was designed after the February 1963 coup that brought the now-outlawed Baath Party to power. Its three green stars represented then the would-be unity between Egypt, Iraq and Syria.
Saddam added the words "Allahu Akbar" shortly before the 1991 Gulf War.
David Gregory on the phone on MSNBC, trying to get out in front of the parade...........LOL.
Peter got to attend the handover, he'll be thinking he's the big man on campus and that will tick off rather and brokaw even more!
Peter Jennings?
Has Chirac issued a statement congratulating the US led coalition yet?
I haven't gone to bed yet. lol I checked a map on one of the links in the thread about it & portions of my county were within the light shaded area, but not me.
Hey David Gregory, you're stuck in Istanbul with the president who has known since yesterday! You just ain't in the loop boy!
Thanks for the background.
The kidnapped U.S. Marine is a Muslim?
Yeah, you could almost hear his chest puffing out as he asked his very important questions. No I don't remember any of them, that's how important they were.
If he has nobody's reported yet. Poor Jack, he's out of the loop too!
The captured US Marine Corporal Wassef
Ali Hassoun is of Lebanese descent.
Oh, crap. The biggest American hater of all, the man who practically called Bush a chicken on 9-11!!!
I didn't notice that in the story, just that he was born in Lebanon.
Well bummer. I can't find any current posts on the blogs. I gotta go to bed. My fibromyalsia is going to rear its ugly head if I don't get plenty of sleep.
Night!
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