State of Law MP calls flag trampling an embarrassing individual act

BAGHDAD — The trampling of a U.S. flag at an official Sovereignty Day parade was an “individual, ill-considered act” that embarrassed Iraq and could bring diplomatic consequences for no gain, State of Law lawmaker Ali al-Azirjawi said.

“Iraq is a state, and it must deal with other countries according to diplomatic norms, and respect must be mutual between states,” he told Al-Rasheed TV. “The United States is a major power and has economic interests in the Middle East, and Iraq should maintain relations with the United States and those relations should be handled properly.”

“It is not possible to have an official parade where the American flag is trampled in this way, because it will stir concerns on the American side,” he said. “It would have been better not to slide in these directions and for there to have been oversight. Everything today is calculated between states, and an incident like this could involve summoning an ambassador and various diplomatic measures.” He added: “You stepped on the flag today, so what happened, what will happen, and did you change anything in the equation? All you will do is put the Iraqi government in an embarrassing position. I believe these are individual actions and there is no objective behind them.”

Authorities arrested those involved after Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered legal measures, without saying how many or who they were. Harakat al-Nujaba demanded their release, calling the arrests a “dangerous precedent,” and its leader Akram al-Kaabi posted a video of himself walking on a U.S. flag. Zaidi’s inquiry followed images posted by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson that he said showed members of the Popular Mobilization Forces trampling the flag at events marking the coalition’s departure on Sept. 30.