From the AP:

A new Iraqi flag — stripped of the three green stars of Saddam Hussein’s toppled Baath party — was hoisted over the Iraqi Cabinet building Tuesday in a symbolic break with the past nearly five years after the U.S.-led invasion.

It marked the latest of several tweaks and revisions — and one failed American-supervised redesign — of Iraq’s national symbol over the decades from monarchy to military rule to the rise and fall of Saddam’s regime. And more fine-tuning could come after the one-year lifespan for the new flag.

Its main modification removes the stars, which were first added in the early 1960s in homage to the pan-Arab bonds promoted by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser. Later, the green stars were associated with the slogans of Saddam’s party: unity, freedom and socialism.

The new design also officially enshrines the new script for the Arabic words “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Great” in green — which were added as part of Saddam’s 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait. The original calligraphy — believed inspired by Saddam’s handwriting — was replaced with the sparse Kufic script after his fall in 2003. But many houses continued to fly the old flag.

While it may not be the best sign that the flag, in the form of the three stars, won’t point to the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions as part of a unified Iraq, it is a good sign that Iraq is looking to maintain a measure of independence from other nations.

The two stars on Syria’s flag refer to the United Arab Republic, in which Syria joined with Egypt. The three stars would’ve looked dismayingly similar.