home / lasi (tm)
U.S. Formally Hands Iraq Self-Rule Two Days Early
By Alistair Lyon and Lin Noueihed -- 6/29/04

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected Monday, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a secretive ceremony formally ending 14 months of occupation.

Outgoing U.S. Governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraqi leaders sealing the formal transfer of powers before immediately flying out of the country. John Negroponte, who will be U.S. ambassador to Iraq , arrived in Baghdad a few hours later.

The low-key handover ceremony was over before it was announced and came as a surprise to ordinary Iraqis. Its hurried and secret nature appeared to reflect fears guerrillas could stage a spectacular attack on the scheduled date of June 30.

At a second ceremony in the afternoon -- this time broadcast live on Iraqi television -- the interim government was sworn in and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged all Iraqis to unite against foreign Islamic militants wreaking havoc in the country.
" I call on our people to stand united to expel the foreign terrorists who are killing our children and destroying our country," Allawi said in comments broadcast around the world.

At the earlier ceremony, which formally transferred sovereignty at 10:26 a.m. (0626 GMT), President Ghazi Yawar hailed "a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to."

BUSH SCRIBBLES SUPPORT
President Bush and his closest Iraq war ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, exchanged knowing smiles and shook hands at a NATO summit in Istanbul after learning the handover ceremony was over as they sat listening to speeches.

Bush was informed of the handover in a handwritten note passed to him by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice . He scribbled back a note saying "Let freedom reign," according to copies distributed by the White House.

U.S. and British officials say the handover is a key step on the path to democracy in Iraq, but one of the government's first actions is expected to be the imposition of emergency laws, including curfews, to crack down on guerrillas.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say militants loyal to Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, accused by Washington of links to al Qaeda, are behind a campaign of suicide bomb attacks in Iraq that have killed hundreds over the past year.

Asked if Allawi would use martial law, Bush said: "He may have to take tough security measures against Zarqawi... He will not cower in the face of brutal murder and neither will we."

Blair said emergency laws were "not going to be about taking away people's freedoms -- it's going to be about helping those freedoms to happen."

FEAR OF ATTACKS

U.S. officials acknowledged that thwarting a surge in attacks believed to be planned for the original Wednesday handover date was a factor in advancing it to Monday. Allawi had requested the change, they said.

" We have said all along that we believed that the terrorists on the ground were going to do everything they can to literally and figuratively blow up the handover of sovereignty," one said.

Such an attack could have damaged attempts by Bush, facing a presidential election in November, to start an orderly disengagement from Iraq, where more than 600 U.S. soldiers have been killed since last year's invasion to oust Saddam Hussein

.
Although Allawi's government will have full sovereignty, according to a U.N. Security Council resolution earlier this month, there are important constraints on its powers.

It is barred from making long-term policy decisions and will not have control over more than 160,000 U.S.-led foreign troops who will stay in Iraq. The government has the right to ask them to leave, but has made clear it has no intention of doing so.
Allawi said he was committed to holding elections in January as scheduled. Last week he was quoted as saying insecurity might force the polls to be postponed until February or March.

SADDAM TO FACE IRAQI JUDGE
As part of the handover, Saddam would soon go before an Iraqi judge to be charged and transferred to Iraqi legal custody, but would still be physically held by U.S.-led forces, a military official said. Saddam was captured in December.
" He will stand in front of an Iraqi judge and he will be handed his indictments," the official said. ...