How Iraq Got Its Sovereignty Back
The US-led coalition gave Iraq its sovereignty back two days earlier than expected, partially as a measure to avoid insurgents who would try to disrupt the handover, and partially as a move that says, “see? we had this all under control the whole time.”
The new Iraqi government has a daunting task ahead of them–planning and executing national elections to take place on January 31st next year.
Update:(6/29/04)
It didn’t strike me like this at the time, but Alex Knapp says the handing over could be a sign of weakness. After all, if we need a secret ceremony and a secret date to avoid violence, maybe we don’t have as much control over things as we thought–and now that we’ve “handed it over,” anything that happens in Iraq is Iraq’s problem, not the US’.