Artifact Friday: Iraqi Flag/Mission Iraqi Freedom

Today is a day that will live in American history forever. 9/11 will be a date that Americans will keep standing for a millennium to commemorate those innocent and those brave whose lives were lost. Mission Iraqi Freedom was the outcome of 9/11, in our collection, we have a display dedicated to this mission and the service members who fought for freedom in Iraq. The flag we have in our collection was captured during a combat action by Bo, an Arkansan service member who fought during our occupation. This flag has been used by Iraq since 1958 after the Iraqi coup d’etat in which the Iraqi republic was established. The red white and black stripes are the same as the Egyptian flag that was established by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1952 and both wear the colors of the Arab freedom flag. The green Kufic script was later added by Hudame Hassan after the gulf war and the last official reiteration of this flag was done in 2008 in which it removed the stars that had previously been there and as you see on the captured flag we have in our possession. Operation Iraqi Freedom itself was a mission led by the US to liberate the Iraqi people from the cruel regime of Saddam Hussein. Hussein was cruel to his people and possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). This terrorist organization was key to the attacks led on 9/11 against the United States. President Bush made the decision to put America into Iraq to prevent another attack like this from happening again; in March 2003, the mission was launched. America was key to overthrowing Hussein's political control and establishing a system of government where the Iraqi populace could vote. Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein were captured in December of 2003, and later, to quell more terrorist activity, Osama Bin Laden. After 8 years of American occupation, forces withdrew. 33 Arkansans were killed in securing freedom for the Iraqi people. This captured flag represents not just the Iraqi people but of the tragedy that took place on American soil and the later occupation that granted freedom to people who needed it most.