“SMART DIPLOMACY:” US: Inverted Philippine flag was ‘honest mistake’. “The U.S. government said Sunday it made an ‘honest mistake’ when it displayed an inverted Philippine flag — which wrongfully signified that the Southeast Asian nation was in a state of war — in a meeting hosted by President Barack Obama. The Philippine flag was displayed upside down behind President Benigno Aquino III when leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met Obama in New York on Friday.”