Behold, Your Liberator!

All this bombing for freedom puts me in mind of this World War 2 poster. It depicts a skull-faced Statue of Liberty (now, apparently, a nasty French icon) spewing fire onto a city with the caption "Ecco i Liberatore!" The language of the slogan should provide a clue as to why this arresting image isn't really appropriate for use by the anti-war movement - it's from Fascist Italy. Ah well, such is life.

Here's something about the Kurds.

And the story about that flag raising:

Americans raise hackles by flying Stars and Stripes in Iraq

Nicholas Watt
Saturday March 22, 2003
The Guardian

American marines swept aside Iraqi sensibilities yesterday to raise the Stars and Stripes at the entrance to Iraq's main port of Umm Qasr.

In a move condemned by MPs as crass, the marines replaced the Iraqi flag in an attempt to recreate the iconic image of the US flag being raised over the Pacific island of Iwo Jima in the second world war.

Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, promised to pass on British concerns about the raising of the flag, which undermined allied claims that they were liberating, not conquering, Iraq.

His remarks came after Crispin Blunt, a Tory MP who served in the first Gulf war, said: "It would be singularly unfortunate if the Stars and Stripes was, for example, planted over the parliament building in Baghdad at a future stage."

Promising to raise the matter with the US authorities, Mr Hoon attempted to calm waters by saying: "It is necessary to understand how, at the end of what was a vigorous confrontation, any soldiers are likely to feel the need to demonstrate their success, which I suspect is what happened overnight."

Britain underlined its determination to respect Iraqi sovereignty by warning its troops not to wave the union flag. Addressing 1 Battalion the Irish Guards this week, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins said: "We go to liberate, not to conquer."

The Americans later replaced the Iraqi flag in Umm Qasr.

They must be worried someone might get the right idea.

PS: The US told us on Friday, Umm Qasr was totally under their control. It's now Monday, and they are still getting shot at there.