Depends what era you're talking about. They have different meanings at different times. I would hazard a guess that you did not get a response because nobody really gives a rats ass what they mean. I will confess to looking it up.
Quote from CaptainObvious: They have different meanings at different times. Still nope...(well, yes) because nobody really gives a rats ass what they mean. It was a simple quiz question. You either know it and can type it in in 20 secs, or you don't. The reason I asked was, because it helps to understand the situation, namely that Iraq was never a homogen country by our standards...
OK, I won't be so cruel: "Egypt and Syria formed in 1958 the United Arab Republic. The new republic adopted a flag made of three horizontal red-white-black stripes, with two green stars placed on the white stripe. The two stars represented the two states which constituted the republic. In 1961, Syria left the UAR but Egypt kept using the name of UAR and the flag until 1 January 1972. In 1963, Egypt, Syria and Iraq tried to constitute a new union, to no avail. The proposed flag for the union should have been the same as the UAR flag, but with three stars symbolizing the three states constituting the union. The union never existed but Iraq retained the proposed flag as its national flag. The official explanation of the three stars was they should remind Iraqi attempts to unify the Arab countries." P.S.: For extra credit: "The 1991 flag (and the arms) included the Allahu Akbar salutation in Saddam Hussein's own handwriting."