They won't trample on God

Michael Yon is present at a meeting to get civic life in Baqubah going again. The Iraqi Army officers and former insurgent leaders discuss 7 rules and an oath.

The most interesting discussion is about the flag. The American presentation had included images of the flag without the words “Allah u Akbar!” on it. It was Saddam who had added them in the certainty that Iraqis would not tample on anything with those words on it. The Iraqis present at this meeting agreed.

As Yon notes, this is liable to give us over here the jitters. But we must accept, however well Iraq turns out, it is never going to be "Surrey in the sun", as a British officer put it. In fact, more than anything else, what we most need in the Middle East is a country with “Allah u Akbar!” on its flag that is also, if not a friend of the West, at least not a real or potential enemy.