President Orders Flags Half Staff

April 5, 2005

The White House via RBN – April 5, 2005

President Bush Orders Flags Flown at Half Staff in Honor of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husayni Sistani

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

As a mark of respect for His Holiness Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husayni Sistani, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half staff at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset on the day of his interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half staff for the same period at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
…
GEORGE W. BUSH

Link 1, 2

Posted by b on April 5, 2005 at 22:24 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Game over for Dale C. Stoffel
Stoffel : an obituary

Posted by: Blowback | Apr 5 2005 22:53 utc | 1

Perfect.

Posted by: rrrrrrg | Apr 6 2005 8:54 utc | 2

These secular organizations/states also lower their flags to honor the Grand Ayatollah:
EU in Brussel, Arab League in Kairo, Cuba, France(!), Jordan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Philippines, Panama, Taiwan, Ireland, Mauritius, Malta and may be some more…

Posted by: b | Apr 6 2005 9:52 utc | 3

B: the official excuse is that the Pope is a head of state. OK, but now, I want this issue to come upfront and be seriously discussed:
Why the Hell is Vatican an independant state? Last time I checked, St-Paul, Notre-Dame and Mecca were just sanctuaries part of a larger country.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 6 2005 13:36 utc | 4

So is Bertie Ahern (Ireland’s Taoiseach) representing Ireland’s Jews, Muslims, Prodestants etc at the funeral.
Irish Flag protocol

Posted by: Friendly Fire | Apr 6 2005 14:01 utc | 5

CluelessJoe, I almost hesitate to ask this, but given that the Vatican is, and has been, an independent state for some years now, what would you suggest doing about it? It’s just the way it is. Why is Canada an independent state. Why is Zambia? Ireland? United States? Japan?

Posted by: Colman | Apr 6 2005 15:06 utc | 6

Why no “Friendly Fire”, he won’t be. He’ll be representing the Government of Ireland I imagine. I’d think that the President will be representing the people of Ireland as head of state. Why do you ask? And why does flag protocol have something to do with it?

Posted by: Colman | Apr 6 2005 15:12 utc | 7

Clueless – the official excuse is bullshit. No flags will be lowered for Monaco’s Prince Rainer who just died in any of the above mentioned countries.
I just wonder why one should honor a religious leader in such a way. He was a remarkable man, but there are more of these dying without such pomp.

Posted by: b | Apr 6 2005 16:23 utc | 8

<sarcasm />don’cha know this is a christian planet now?

Posted by: b real | Apr 6 2005 16:31 utc | 9

Will they also put the flag at half mast for Prince Rainer of Monaco, just heard in the car, that he was the longest ruling head of state in Europe.

Posted by: Fran | Apr 6 2005 16:37 utc | 10

There is a bit of a flap in France about the flags at half-mast as well. The prefects in every region were given WRITTEN instructions to go to mass and to pay their respects to the local éveque.
It’s totally nuts.
Count on good ol’ anti-clerical Le Canard Enchaine to put the right spin on it: “When will will have separation of Church and Media?” See the various cartoons and the interview with God…

Posted by: Jérôme | Apr 6 2005 20:25 utc | 11

Colman: Vatican is independant since Mussolini, which wanted the complete support of the clergy to his fascist crusade, and like in Spain the Catholic church was way too eager to support the local tyranny under which local Catholics were suffering.
In fact, I’d ask the same question about Monaco. We’re not talking about nation, we’re not talking about countries. We’re talking about a few acres which are amazingly considered as complete independant nations, the way China, Spain or Brazil is. One can argue that the borders are usually badly drawn all over the planet, but for most countries you could find a little bit of legitimacy. When you get countries that are smaller than a country village with less population than a NYC block of buildings, there’s some problem, imho. I suppose that if N Ireland were to become independant, you’d find it quite ricidulous; let it be part of UK or Ireland, and be done with it. Well, here we’re talking about having a Londonderry neighborhood having a seat at UN. And Vatican is particularly weird; this country has a birthrate of Zero 😉 (not to mention its systematic use of mercenaries for security and defense pruposes 😉 )
Iraq is as old as Vatican, yet many people seriously pondered if it shouldn’t be broken up – not to mention the fact that many in the area question the reasoning of having an independant Kuwait, which is just as much an English creation as modern-day Iraq.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Apr 6 2005 20:59 utc | 12

Why are US flags at half-mast for the pope and not for Rainier? Because Bush is playing to the theocratic right: “The ultimate male supremacist is dead. Long live all us other male supremacists.”

Posted by: gylangirl | Apr 8 2005 2:11 utc | 13

Oh my gosh, I can’t believe the sheer ignorance here. The Vatican has been an independent state for hundreds of years before the US. Mussolini couldn’t afford to alienate the entire Catholic population of Italy which was like 95%.
The historical tradition of sovereignty for places like Monaco, Andorra or Luxembourg predate the US by centuries. If size is the issue what about places like Fiji, Pitcairn Islands, or Bahrain? Just absorb them into nearest empire? Saddam Hussein and Hitler already tried that. You seem to put down Fascism but then in the same breath endorse it!!

Posted by: John | Apr 16 2007 20:41 utc | 14

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