I developed an affinity for Iraq during my service there. I find myself particularly drawn to the period of the Monarchy, moved as I am by the pathos of the murdered King, struck down in his youth, along with his family the by the henchmen of the brutish General Abd al-Karim Qasim in 1958.

My sympathy for the King has moved me to collect a few small relics of the Monarchy period: Military insignia, old photos from wire service archives, and the jewels of the collection, my two British SMLE MKIII* Enfield rifles, made in 1918 and 1935, marked with the Jeem of the Iraqi Army.

The latest addition to my collection is the flag pictured with this article, a vintage example of Qasim’s 1958 flag. I hesitated to purchase it, because of the antipathy I feel for the man who governed under it, and for his regime, and for the catastrophe it ultimately proved to be.

Qasim sowed the wind, and he reaped the whirlwind on February 9th, 1963 when he himself was overthrown by a military coup and killed, ignominiously dumped into an unmarked grave. Qasim and his flag shared a remarkably similar fate. Qasim disappeared after his murder. The location of his grave was unmarked and quickly forgotten. From the day of his death until his body’s discovery in 2004, neither any monument to Qasim nor fragment of his remains were known to exist. The only testament to his life and misrule were the wire service photos and written records that documented his regime.

Qasim’s flag shared a remarkably similar fate. Nearly every flag ever flown over Iraq still exists, is still made, and can still be purchased brand-new. A quick internet search produces brand-new copies of Iraq’s national flag and royal standard of the Monarchy; the Ba’athist 1963 flag; Saddam Hussein’s 1991 flag; the interim 2004 flag; and Iraq’s current flag, adopted in 2008. When I was in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 I acquired copies of both the 1963 flag and the 2004 flag.

But Qasim’s flag is practically extinct. Until I stumbled across the example in my collection, I had never seen a physical example of Qasim’s flag, old or new. It was as if it disappeared into his grave with him.

Ultimately, this is why I broke my rule and bought this relic from Qasim’s regime. It is an extremely rare historical artifact, worthy of conservation, even if not honor.