2004 Year in Review

Iraqi Sovereignty hand over on June 30

The Bush administration has announced that it will be handing over sovereignty to Iraq on June 30. What exactly does it mean to hand over sovereignty and is the Bush administration really intending to do it?

The dictionary defines sovereignty as “supreme power or authority.” It is the right of a state to be self-governing. Iraq had sovereignty over itself under Saddam Hussein before the United States invaded last March. Since then Iraq has been ruled by the US either in an act of liberation, if you believe the war’s adherents, or an occupation, if you prefer reality.

Many people have thought that the June 30 sovereignty date was set by President Bush for political reasons, that is, because it is thought that it would enhance his re-election campaign if it looked like the US was returning control of Iraq to some sort of Iraqi-led government.

However, it has been noted that the Bush administration intends to continue controlling Iraq after June 30. Secretary of State Powell reasoned that one of the first steps that Iraq would take after getting its sovereignty returned, would be to hand much of its sovereignty back to the United States. The United States would remain in military occupation for years to come. The largest embassy in the world would continue to run Iraq. For the new Iraqi government to agree to this, seems a little like a burglar holding a gun to the head of a person and making him sign an agreement to hand over the title of the house.

It is interesting, however, to note that in the past few days that the Bush administration has been making statements (sometimes immediately denied, which makes them even more plausible) that if the new Iraqi government ordered the removal of US troops, as it is likely that any legitimate, representative government would do, that we would indeed leave Iraq. The US viceroy of Iraq, Paul Bremer stated on Friday:

”If the provisional government asks us to leave we will leave,'' Bremer said, referring to an Iraqi administration due to take power June 30. "I don't think that will happen, but obviously we don't stay in countries where we're not welcome."

Secretary of State Powell reinforced this view on Saturday. If asked to leave "we would leave," Powell said.

This seems to me to be a hopeful sign. It is difficult to predict what the Bush administration will actually do in June – it could be that the neo-conservatives will still prevail, but it seems possible that the United States will actually recognize Iraq’s independence and allow Iraq to control itself.

It is also possible that the frequent statements that we would leave Iraq if asked, then the immediate denials indicates that there is an internal struggle in the White House between those who think that departure is the better part of valor, represented by the State Department, and the administration hawks who think we can reform the Arab world at the end of the sword, represented by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly says, ”If this is a trial balloon, it's the damnedest trial balloon I've ever seen: the Secretary of State plus the foreign ministers of three of our principal allies, going out of their way to clarify a policy that didn't really have to be clarified and doing it in an unusually direct way. “

There is, of course, a substantial possibility that a US military departure could lead to civil war in Iraq, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that our presence in the country has become odious to the Iraqis, particularly in the light of the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison. 82% of Iraqis wish that the US would leave. We seem to be creating less security for the Iraqi people rather than more.

It seems time for the US to allow the Iraqis to solve their own problems.

For the latest scoop on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, read Rumsfeld Ordered Abu Ghraib Torture.

by John Legler, Guest Columnist
May 16, 2004