Bush secretly transfers power to Iraqis 2 days early

U.S. Hands Power to Iraqis Two Days Early
U.S. Hands Power to Iraqis Two Days Early
Jun 28, 10:17 AM (ET)
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days early Monday in a surprise move that apparently caught insurgents off guard, averting a feared campaign of attacks to sabotage the historic step toward self-rule.

Legal documents transferring sovereignty were handed over by U.S. governor L. Paul Bremer to chief justice Midhat al-Mahmood in a small ceremony in the heavily guarded Green Zone. Bremer took charge in Iraq about a year ago.

"This is a historical day ... a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to," said Iraqi President Ghazi Al-Yawer. "This is a day we are going to take our country back into the international forum."

Militants had conducted a campaign of car bombings, kidnappings and other violence that killed hundreds of Iraqis in recent weeks and was designed to disrupt the transfer, announced by the Bush administration late last year. Intially, the Americans were thought to have planned for about one more year of occupation.

The response in Baghdad was mixed.

"Iraqis are happy inside, but their happiness is marred by fear and melancholy," said artist Qassim al-Sabti. "Of course I feel I'm still occupied. You can't find anywhere in the world people who would accept occupation. America these days, is like death. Nobody can escape from it."

Two hours after the ceremony Bremer left Iraq on a U.S. Air Force C-130, said Robert Tappan, an official of the former coalition occupation authority. Bremer was accompanied by coalition spokesman Dan Senor and close members of his staff. Bremer's destination was not given, but an aide said he was "going home."

The new interim government was sworn in six hours after the handover ceremony, which Western governments largely hailed as a necessary next step. The Arab world voiced cautious optimism, but maintained calls for the U.S. military to leave the country quickly.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi delivered a sweeping speech sketching out some of his goals for the country, urging people not to be afraid of the "outlaws" fighting against "Islam and Muslims," assuring them that "God is with us."

"I warn the forces of terror once again," he said. "We will not forget who stood with us and against us in this crisis."

Members of Allawi's Cabinet each stepped forward to place their right hand on the Quran and pledged to accept their new duties with sincerity and impartiality. Behind them, a bank of Iraqi flags lined the podium.

"Before us is a challenge and a burden and we ask God almighty to give us the patience and guide us to take this country whose people deserves all goodness," said President Ghazi al-Yawer after taking his oath. "May God protect Iraq and its citizens."

The NATO alliance quickly said it would begin training the Iraqi military, which faces a daunting task in putting down the growing insurgency threatening the country.

President Bush marked the transfer with a whispered comment and a handshake with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, gathered with world leaders around a table at a NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey.

Stealing a glance at his watch to make sure the transfer had occurred, Bush put his hand over his mouth to guard his remarks, leaned toward Blair and then reached out to shake hands. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a row behind the president, beamed.

Bush was briefed Sunday that the Allawi government was ready to take power early.

The early transfer had been under discussion between Allawi and U.S. officials for at least a week, a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Bremer's last moments in Iraq were spent in a meeting with Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top American commander in the country.

Although the interim government will have full sovereignty, it will operate under major restrictions - some of them imposed at the urging of the influential Shiite clergy which sought to limit the powers of an unelected administration.

For example, the interim government will only hold power seven months until, as directed by a United Nations Security Council resolution, there must be elections "in no case later than" Jan. 31. The Americans will still hold responsibility for security. And the interim government will not be able to amend the interim constitution. That document outlines many civil liberties guarantees that would make problematic a declaration of emergency.

As Iraq's highest authority, Bremer had issued more than 100 orders and regulations, many of them Western-style laws governing everything from bankruptcy and traffic, to restrictions on child labor and copying movies.

Some are likely to be ignored. One law requires at least a month in jail for people caught driving without a license - something many Iraqis do not have. Another demands that drivers stay in a single lane, a rule widely ignored in Iraq's chaotic streets.

Others are more controversial. On Saturday, Bremer signed an edict that gave U.S. and other Western civilian contractors immunity from Iraqi law while performing their jobs in Iraq. The idea outrages many Iraqis who said the law allows foreigners to act with impunity even after the occupation.

A Bremer elections law restricts certain candidates from running for office, banning parties with links to militias, for instance.

The Coalition Provisional Authority's laws remain in effect after the occupation ends unless rescinded or revised by the interim government, a task that another Bremer-signed law allows, but only after a difficult process.

The new government's major tasks will be to prepare for elections, handle the day-to-day running of the country and work along with the U.S.-led multinational force, which is responsible for security. The Iraqis can in principle ask the foreign troops to leave - although that is unlikely.

However, the United States and its partners hoped that the transfer of sovereignty would serve as a psychological boost for Iraqis, who have been increasingly frustrated by and hostile to foreign military occupation. U.S. officials hope that Iraqis will believe that they are now in control of their country and that will take the steam out of the insurgency.

With the transfer, the Iraqis now face the daunting task of securing law and order with the help of about 135,000 U.S. troops and about 20,000 more from other coalition countries.

The handover ceremony took place in a formal room with Louis XIV furniture in an office in the building formerly used by the Iraqi Governing Council. Officials were seated in gilded chairs around a table, in the center of which was a bowl of flowers with a small Iraqi flag in it.

Just before the handover, everyone stood up, and documents were passed to the chief justice at 10:26 a.m. local time - at that point, legal sovereignty was passed.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, was the only U.S. military official present.

"We'd like to express our thanks to the coalition," al-Yawer said. "There is no way to turn back now."

Bremer, wearing a dark suit and a blue tie with small white dots, read the transfer document, which was inside a blue folder. With a laugh, he referred to himself as the "ex-administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority."

Allawi stood on his right and al-Yawer on his left.

"The Iraqi government is determined to hold elections at the scheduled date, which is January next year," Allawi said in Arabic. He had told CBS television network that the election might be delayed if the security situation did not improve.

There was little initial public reaction to the near-secret transfer ceremony, which was broadcast on Iraqi and Arabic satellite television stations. There was no celebratory gunfire - which rattles through Baghdad when Iraq's national soccer team defeats foreign clubs.

Workers were cleaning the area on Firdous Square where the statue of Saddam Hussein was hauled down on April 9, 2003, when Baghdad fell. More police were seen in the streets.

Coalition officials said Bush had already sent a letter to al-Yawer formally requesting diplomatic relations.

"You have said, and we agreed, that you are ready for sovereignty," Bremer said in the ceremony. "I will leave Iraq confident in its future."

he didn't really say " they can't whip our military" did he?

Iraq government faces factions, past history & the hando
Posted on Thu, Jun. 24, 2004
Iraq's government faces factions, past history, come the handover
By Hannah Allam
Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Earlier this month, a letter from Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric arrived at the offices of Iraq's new prime minister, advising him that as he takes charge of the country he should remember the Islamic concept of amana - guarding other people's precious property with one's life.

It was Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani's tacit endorsement of the interim leadership of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and his fledgling Cabinet, and it was greeted with relief. Three other times during the American occupation, Sistani's objections short-circuited American plans for governing Iraq.

But the letter also was a reminder that Iraq belongs to many. While officially Allawi and his government of opposition leaders and technocrats will be in charge come Thursday, much of the real power will lie outside the interim government.

The most powerful player remains the U.S.-led coalition, renamed the Multinational Forces, whose role is still being determined. Muslim clerics, deadly insurgents and U.S.-backed Kurdish political parties all will play a role in determining Iraq's future.

To fulfill his Islamic responsibility under amana, as well as his secular duty as the latest ruler of a diverse and war-weary nation, Allawi must delicately deal with all the players. If he does so skillfully, Iraq may yet evolve into something of a democratic model in the Middle East. If he fails, Iraq could spin into civil war, breed more terrorism and instability and endanger President Bush's chances for a second term.

"Iyad Allawi and his group want Iraqi independence and they want to succeed in this political process by working with the Americans," said Ayad Samarrai, the deputy secretary-general of the Iraqi Islamic Party, an influential Sunni Muslim group. "The other groups want the same thing, but they don't trust the Americans and won't work with them. But the goal for independence is the same."

Serving so many masters could leave Allawi's new government hamstrung. Each faction brings a different vision of what sovereign Iraq should look like, and so far none of them squares with the Bush administration's plans for a secular, American-friendly model of Middle Eastern democracy.

These then are the factions Allawi must deal with as he takes the helm.

The Shiites Iraq's Shiite majority was badly fractured during an uprising that pitted Sistani against rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr. With that fighting now largely over, the Shiites are trying to bring together rival groups, build a voting bloc and sweep elections late next year. Many Shiite parties have demanded an Islam-based constitution and other measures that hint of a theocracy in the vein of neighboring Iran.

Sistani, elderly and reclusive, is still considered the most influential cleric, and his religious edicts are considered law by many. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the dominant Shiite political party, enjoys Sistani's support and has key positions in Allawi's government.

But al Sadr's radical stance against the American occupiers enchanted many young Shiites and it remains to be seen whether moderate Shiites loyal to Sistani can woo them back. A recent poll put al Sadr in second place, after Sistani, as the most respected man in Iraq. Building a partnership with the man widely believed to be in favor of removing the moderate clergy by any means necessary is a risky prospect for the Shiites in the new government.

Sadr still isn't completely trusted, though the relationship is "better than before," said Homam Hamodi, a leading figure in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution.

Al Sadr, meanwhile, is using his new status as folk hero for political leverage. The man who a month ago battled U.S. troops with his ragtag Mahdi Army militia has been invited to send a delegate to the national convention, which will elect a national assembly in coming months.

What Allawi will do about a murder charge still pending against al Sadr in connection with the death of a rival cleric last year is unknown, as is al Sadr's own feelings about taking part in the government.

"The shift from fighter to politician is a difficult one and it takes time," Hamodi said with a wry smile.

The Kurds

Iraqi politicians privy to the talks that resulted in the new government say the country's powerful Kurdish parties, the most consistently pro-American groups in Iraq, wanted either the presidency or the prime minister post. They got neither. Kurds, brutally oppressed under Saddam Hussein, fought alongside U.S. troops during the war and seek recognition for the sacrifices of their peshmerga militias.

Arab politicians balked and the slots went to Allawi, a Shiite Arab, and Ghazi al Yawer, a Sunni Arab tribesman whose flowing robes and traditional headdress sharply contrast with his colleagues' Western business suits.

As a sort of consolation prize, Iraqi officials said, a Kurd was named vice president, another is a deputy prime minister and Kurdish technocrats now head several key ministries, including foreign affairs, human rights, public works and water resources.

While the new government publicly talks of a unified, diverse Iraq, simmering ethnic tension threatens to derail Allawi's plans inside and outside the government. Kurdish ministers threatened to resign or withdraw their support of the new government after a United Nations Security Council resolution didn't include protections they won under interim Iraqi laws.

Vice President Rowsch Shaways, a German-educated engineer and former prime minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, is expected to quell ethnic tension as well as ensure that Kurdish rights are protected in the next phase of government.

Outside officialdom, a struggle remains over control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, which many Kurds say should be incorporated into their semi-autonomous northern region. Rival Arab and Turkmen groups have resisted, though thousands of Kurds are camped out in the city to sway the demographics in their favor.

"The Kurds run their own region, so their influence across Iraq won't be so great," said a senior Arab member of the new government, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of angering Kurdish colleagues. "But the Americans must stay in Kirkuk and prevent a violent takeover by the Kurds. The allies should never withdraw _ the situation is too explosive."

The insurgents and terrorists

The key measure of Allawi's success will be in how he handles the deteriorating security conditions in Iraq.

Already, Allawi is winning a reputation as a no-nonsense heavyweight. He's announced plans to streamline the country's nascent security forces into a terrorism-fighting system and hasn't ruled out martial law to regain control of the country in the first weeks of sovereignty.

"The new government is like a sieve. It'll filter out the people who are all talk and no action," said Amal Kashif al Getaa of the Islamic Union of Women and Children. "Iyad Allawi is strong and tough with a hard edge. He'll make things better. The new government is a step forward, but the religious leaders and the tribes still run things." Enemy No. 1 is Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist who claims responsibility for most of Iraq's large-scale bombings, attacks on U.S.-appointed Iraqi leaders and the gruesome slayings of foreign hostages. On Wednesday, al Zarqawi turned his attention to Allawi, calling for the prime minister's head in a taped death threat broadcast throughout the Arab world on satellite television.

Zarqawi, supported by disenchanted Sunnis in the flashpoint city of Fallujah and vehemently anti-American Sunni militant groups elsewhere in the country, vowed his attacks wouldn't stop until "Islamic rule is back on earth."

President Bush and the United States

Tens of thousands of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq long after June 30 and probably even after elections scheduled for the end of 2005.

To establish his credibility, Allawi will have to separate himself somehow from the Americans and that will almost certainly mean confronting them at some point on some issue _ most likely the conduct of military operations in the country.

Allawi reportedly was furious that he was given only a few hours' warning before the coalition launched an airstrike on a suspected terrorist safe house in Fallujah, killing at least 19 Iraqis last weekend.

Publicly, Allawi said he welcomed hits on terrorist targets.

Privately, he reportedly is angling for more control over major U.S. military operations.

How willing the Americans will be to give him greater say could well hinge on a factor clearly outside of Allawi's control, the American political process.

The political stakes for Bush are huge as the November elections near. Polls indicate that events in Iraq are the single biggest factor in shaping voter attitudes. When things are going well, voters are more likely to approve of Bush's performance and express more confidence about the direction of the country. When things go badly, Bush suffers in the polls.

"Iraq as an issue is entirely about what happens between now and Election Day," said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Most Iraqis in the new government defend a prolonged American presence as a necessary evil until Iraqi security forces are up to the job. But it's clear that it grates.

Juwad al Maliki, a member of the Shiite Dawa political party, recently called himself an optimist about the handover. "I'm willing to pay the price for those who suffered under the brutalities of the old regime and for those who suffered under the occupation," he said.

But it comes with a personal cost. Al Maliki later walked in the broiling sun to a checkpoint outside an office he uses in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the coalition keeps its headquarters. American and Nepalese private security forces turned him away, apparently because they didn't recognize him.

"They'll never understand us. They'll just never understand," al Maliki muttered, humiliated and sweating, as he set off down an empty road, in search of another entrance.

By surprise, maybe. Secretly? How sinister.

is Kurdistan, like New York City, a state of mind?

Bush likes to surprise, and yes, Rog, he likes to keep things secret until he does.

Great idea!!! Sort of makes planned attacks on the 30th a moot point, which I'm sure caused the brilliant pre-emptive sovereignty hand-over!

HOORAY!!!

If they are really building 14 permanent military bases in Iraq, sovereignty is pretty much just a word.

Germany... Cuba... The Philippines... etc...