Since the 1958 Iraqi coup d'état, the various republican governments of Iraq have used a number of different flags, all featuring the pan-Arab colors of green, black, white, and red.

The current official and internationally recognized flag of Iraq (علم العراق) was adopted in 2008 as a temporary compromise, and consists of the three equal horizontal red, white, and black stripes of the Arab Liberation Flag, that was first used by Gamal Abdel Nasser during the Egyptian Revolution, with the takbīr written in green in the Kufic script that was originally added by Saddam Hussein following the Gulf War.

[3] Valid for Iraqi flags 1963–present[4] The Abbasid Revolution against the Umayyad Caliphate adopted black for its rāyaʾ for which their partisans were called the musawwids.

Both designs also reflected the newly installed Hashemite Dynasty in Iraq (originally from the Hejaz in the Arabian Peninsula), who had played a leading role in the Arab Revolt.

This horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black bands (a subset of the Pan-Arab colours, first used in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952) formed the basis of the flag of the United Arab Republic (UAR).

At the instigation of President Saddam Hussein, the takbīr (the phrase Allahu akbar, meaning "God is the greatest" in Arabic) was added in green between the stars.

The hamza over the alif of “Allah” in the main variant seems to be a spelling error according to formal Arabic grammar, but it is a common mistake found in many texts.

The basic form of the existing flag was retained;[17] however, the takbīr was rendered in traditional stylized Kufic script, as opposed to the handwriting of Saddam Hussein.

The modified flag was unveiled at the ceremony marking the technical "handover" of power from the Coalition Provisional Authority occupation forces to the U.S.-appointed administration on 28 July 2004.

In this current version, the three stars were removed, with the two words of the takbīr being brought closer together and rendered in bold, and corrected the previous spelling of Allah (ألله to الله).

Strong speculation followed that the U.S. government would press for a change in the Iraqi flag to remove its pan-Arab symbolism, and to make a definitive break with the period of Ba'athist rule.

In addition to some displeasure among Iraqis who had suffered under Saddam Hussein to retaining national symbols used by his government, there was also strong aversion to the flag from Iraq's Kurdish minority, who resented its evocation of pan-Arabism.

Chadirji commented that the guidelines stipulated that Iraq should be portrayed as part of the Western world, with historical elements included.

The proposed change provoked an intensely negative reaction across groups of Iraq's Arab majority, including those vehemently opposed to Saddam Hussein.

Those opposed to the U.S. occupation, including Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, decried the design as an attempt by the U.S. government to strip Iraq of its identity, and its historically prominent role in the Arab world.

In particular, critics lamented the proposed abandonment of the Arab Liberation Flag, the omission of the traditional colours of pan-Arabism, and the removal of the takbīr.

[24] Another proposed design was also similar to the 2004–2008 flag, but the script was changed to yellow to represent the Kurdish people in northern Iraq.