Iraq formally returns to self-rule two days early<\/p>\n
Reuters, Baghdad<\/p>\n
The United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi
\ngovernment two days earlier than expected on Monday, aiming to
\nforestall guerrilla attacks with a secretive ceremony formally
\nending 14 months of occupation.<\/p>\n
Outgoing U.S. Governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraqi
\nleaders sealing the formal transfer of powers before immediately
\nflying out of the country.<\/p>\n
The low-key ceremony was over before it was announced and came
\nas a surprise to ordinary Iraqis. Its hurried and secret nature
\nappeared to reflect fears guerrillas could stage a spectacular
\nattack on the scheduled date of June 30.<\/p>\n
At a second ceremony in the afternoon -- this time broadcast
\nlive on Iraqi television -- the government was sworn in and Prime
\nMinister Iyad Allawi urged all Iraqis to unite against foreign
\nmilitants wreaking havoc in the country.<\/p>\n
"I call on our people to stand united to expel the foreign
\nterrorists who are killing our children and destroying our
\ncountry," Allawi said in comments broadcast around the world.<\/p>\n
At the earlier ceremony, which formally transferred
\nsovereignty at 10:26 a.m. (1:26 p.m.), President Ghazi Yawar
\nhailed "a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have
\nbeen looking forward to".<\/p>\n
U.S. President George W. Bush quietly took note of the secret
\nhandover by checking his watch at a North Atlantic Treaty
\nOrganization (NATO) summit in Istanbul and shaking hands with his
\nclosest war ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two
\nexchanged knowing smiles and shook hands as they sat around a
\ntable listening to speeches. U.S. and British officials say the
\nhandover is a key step on the path to democracy in Iraq, but one
\nof the government's first actions as a sovereign power is
\nexpected to be the imposition of emergency laws, including
\ncurfews, to crack down on guerrillas.<\/p>\n
U.S. and Iraqi officials say militants loyal to Jordanian Abu
\nMusab al-Zarqawi, accused by Washington of links to al Qaeda, are
\nbehind a campaign of suicide bomb attacks in Iraq that have
\nkilled hundreds over the past year.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Allawi would declare martial law, Bush said: "He
\nmay have to take tough security measures against Zarqawi... He
\nwill not cower in the face of brutal murder and neither will we."<\/p>\n
Blair said emergency laws were "not going to be about taking
\naway people's freedoms -- it's going to be about helping those
\nfreedoms to happen."<\/p>\n
U.S. officials attending the NATO summit acknowledged that
\nthwarting a surge in attacks believed to be planned for the
\nformal Wednesday handover date was a factor in advancing it to
\nMonday. Allawi had requested the change, they said.<\/p>\n
"We have said all along that we believed that the terrorists
\non the ground were going to do everything they can to literally
\nand figuratively blow up the handover of sovereignty," one said.<\/p>\n
Such an attack could have damaged attempts by Bush, who faces
\na presidential election in November, to start an orderly
\ndisengagement from Iraq, where hundreds of U.S. soldiers have
\nbeen killed since last year's invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n
Although Allawi's government will have full sovereignty,
\naccording to a UN Security Council resolution earlier this month,
\nthere are important constraints on its powers.<\/p>\n
It is barred from making long-term policy decisions and will
\nnot have control over more than 160,000 U.S.-led foreign troops
\nwho will stay in Iraq. The government has the right to ask them
\nto leave, but has made clear it has no intention of doing so.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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