install this hack
http://vbulletin.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=21833
it lets you add a select box profile field. use the new feature to add a country field and in the textarea where you enter the select box options enter all the country names. each county on it's own line.
now you'll have a drop down in the profile for the members country.
that was the hard part.
now make a flags folder in your img folder. upload all your flag images there. make sure each flag is named the same way the country was listed in the dropdown. remove any spaces.
now it shouldn't be a big deal for you to read in the value of the flag field when printing a post. if a value exists, strip the spaces from the value and call it value2.
then print the image src="images/flags/value2.gif" alt="value"
wouldn't be a bad idea to check and see if the imag exists first just in case you don't have a flag for that country first.
you could do the same in the profile or you could leave it alone to just show the name of the country