US
Exits Backdoor
By Alistair
Lyon and Lin Noueihed
28 June, 2004
Reuters
BAGHDAD:
The United States has handed over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government,
formally ending a 14-month occupation two days earlier than expected
to try to forestall guerrilla attacks.
In a surprise ceremony
on Monday that was over before it was announced and before ordinary
Iraqis were aware of it, Iraq's outgoing U.S. governor, Paul Bremer,
gave a letter to Iraqi officials sealing the formal transfer of powers.
Within hours, Bremer flew out of the country, a coalition source said.
"This is a
historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward
to," Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar said at the ceremony, which transferred
sovereignty at 10:26 a.m.
"This is the
time when we take the country back into the international community."
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 as a sovereign power
is expected to be the imposition of emergency laws, including curfews,
to crack down on guerrillas.
A senior U.S. official
said in Istanbul, site of a NATO summit, that the handover gave Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi more leverage and "strengthens his hand to
deal with the threats inside his country".
Iraqi Foreign Minister
Hoshiyar Zebari said in Istanbul the handover had been brought forward
to try to thwart insurgents who might have been planning attacks to
coincide with the ceremony, long announced for Wednesday.
"I believe
that we will challenge these terrorists, criminals, Saddamists and anti-democratic
forces by bringing even the date of the handover forward," he told
reporters.
CONSTRAINTS ON POWER
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 foreign troops who will remain 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 after
the ceremony that 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.
"The Iraqi
government is determined to go ahead with elections on January 2 of
next year," Allawi told reporters.
There was little
reaction from world foreign exchange markets to the early handover.
"Any sign Iraq
could have a more stable future would be beneficial for the dollar,
but bringing the handover forward by a day or two doesn't change a great
deal," said Shahab Jalinoos, senior currency strategist at ABN
AMRO in London.
HUNT FOR ZARQAWI
Guerrillas have
mounted bloody attacks this month aimed at disrupting the handover,
and several foreign hostages have also been seized over the past week.
On Sunday, the Arabic-language
satellite channel Al Jazeera broadcast footage of a blindfolded U.S.
Marine, whose captors said they would kill him unless Iraqi prisoners
were released.
"A Marine assigned
to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has been absent from his unit
since June 21," a U.S. statement said. "However, Naval Criminal
Investigative Services cannot confirm that Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun
has been taken hostage."
Militants have already
seized three Turks and a Pakistani contractor, in a new spate of kidnappings.
Fighters loyal to
al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on Saturday they were holding
the Turks and would behead them within 72 hours unless Turks stopped
working with U.S. forces.
The threats have
cast a shadow over U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Turkey for
the NATO summit.
Turkey and Pakistan
are not part of the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq but many of their
nationals work as drivers, cooks, cleaners and support staff for U.S.
troops. Both countries have rejected the kidnappers' demands.
Zarqawi's group
beheaded a South Korean hostage last week after Seoul rejected a demand
to withdraw its forces from Iraq, and last month decapitated a U.S.
captive.
Zarqawi has also
claimed responsibility for a series of attacks, most recently a wave
of suicide bombings and armed assaults in five cities on Thursday that
killed more than 100 Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers. Washington has
offered $10 million for information leading to his death or capture.
Brigadier General
Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. army in Iraq,
denied reports on Monday that Zarqawi had been captured in a raid south
of Baghdad.
On Monday morning
a roadside bomb killed a British soldier in the southern city of Basra
and wounded two others.
On Sunday a C-130
transport aircraft was hit by small arms fire after takeoff from Baghdad
airport. One person was wounded and later died, the U.S. military said.
At least 630 U.S.
soldiers have been killed in action in Iraq since the start of the war
last year.