Flags for Iraqi Civilians

Several years ago, I decided I wanted to make some kind of memorial for all the Iraqi civilians killed in this war and occupation of Iraq. At that time, it was estimated that there were 80,000 to 100,000 civilians killed in the war. I made up a ‘flag’ of white paper that had a peace dove printed on it and I put on the bottom of the paper:

THIS IS IN REMEMBERANCE OF IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. MAY THEIR COUNTRY FIND PEACE.

I called these the “Iraqi Civilian Peace Flags”. (At this point, every flag represents more than 100 civilians casualties, unfortunately.) This design and saying was approved by the WNC Peace Coalition, and they felt that we should add ‘flags’ for US and coalition deaths. At that time, there were under 2,000 deaths. We decided to make up blue ‘flags’ for the US and coalition deaths. Originally, we had one flag per one hundred deaths from the war and occupation of Iraq. Today, however, we are not able to keep up with that number. There are many more than a hundred deaths per ‘flag’. We have about 28 flags for US and coalition troops and about 1600 for Iraqi civilian casualties. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US/UK invasion.

The stakes the flags are on is three feet high and is actually a survey’s stake. Those were donated by a friend of mine.

These flags have been displayed at Unitarian Universalist church in Asheville in March of 2005, 2006 and 2007. The picture above is from the display this year. I have written blog posts from prior years. They were shown at Unitarian Universalist church in Black Mountain in May of 2006. This year, they went down to the Unitarian Universalist church in Clemson, South Carolina for a display.

The women who picked up the Iraqi Civilian Peace Flags to take to South Carolina told me that her son served in Gulf War I. He had traveled from Kuwait to Basra and saw the shooting gallery – and notice that the ammo boxes that the Iraqis had said MADE IN THE USA. Rather does underline the real motivation for wars, doesn’t it?

Anyway, they had the flags up for over two weeks down there and had this report in the press:

Dozens of tiny flags on metal stems were stuck into the grass, in a random pattern. A few flags, in front, were baby blue but all the others were white.

In front of them was a sign affixed to a wooden stake, also stuck in the grass.

“Each flag represents more than 100 deaths,” the sign stated in capital letters, stark black.

Another, smaller sign stood next to it. That one announced that the blue flags represented United States troops, the white ones Iraqi civilian casualties.

Farther back was one last sign, much taller than the others, standing stiffly like a general amid his troops.

“With these flags we sadly commemorate Iraqi war deaths,” it said.

I squatted to look at one of the blue flags near my feet. It had a black outline of a dove, with an olive branch in its mouth. In the corner was a tiny stars-and-stripes emblem.

Small letters whispered the message:

“This is a remembrance of US military casualties in Iraq. May they rest in Peace. May their country find Peace.”

….Then I looked out over the sea of white flags. There were so many, I couldn’t count them. They stretched across the grass to the other side of the church parking lot. Each one was encased in a plastic sleeve, still dotted with water droplets from an overnight rain.

They carried the same dove, the same “Rest in Peace” message.

A chilly wind stirred the flags, making them flutter slightly, like origami paper cranes about to take flight.

I hope there are more places to display the flags and I hope that someday other groups join me in doing the same thing. I could make more flags for them – I even have more stakes to put the flags on – but it is too much for me to store and care for and move from one place to another. It would be awesome to have a display that has one flag for every 100 civilian deaths – and 37 flags for the US and coalition deaths. Both these numbers will rise.

Sadly.

This war is illegal, immoral and very, very stupid. More information on Iraq Today, and a picture memorial of WHAT WE’VE DONE.