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Iraq formally returns to self-rule two days early
The United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected Monday, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a surprise ceremony formally ending 14 months of occupation.
Iraq's outgoing U.S. governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraq leaders sealing the formal transfer of powers before flying out of the country. The low-key ceremony was over before it was announced and before ordinary Iraqis were aware of it.
At a second ceremony in the afternoon -- this time broadcast live on Iraqi television -- the government was sworn in.
"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 earlier ceremony that 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, where a NATO summit was in progress, 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 handover 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.
As part of the handover, ousted leader Saddam Hussein will soon go before an Iraqi judge to be charged and transferred to Iraqi legal custody, but will still be physically held by U.S.-led forces, a military official said. Saddam fled when U.S. forces took Baghdad on April 9 last year, but was captured in December.
"He will stand in front of an Iraqi judge and he will be handed his indictments," the coalition official said.
HOSTAGE CRISIS
Guerrillas have mounted bloody attacks this month aimed at disrupting the handover, and several foreign hostages have also been seized over the past week.
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 Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has been taken hostage." Militants have already seized three Turks and a Pakistani driver working as a contractor for U.S. forces this month. 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 President 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 for U.S. troops. Both countries have rejected the kidnappers' demands. The uncle of Pakistani driver Amjad Hafeez appealed for his release. "He went there for work and not for fighting," Mohammad Razzaq Khan told Reuters from Rawalpindi. "Therefore, we appeal to the captors to release him." 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 an onslaught in five cities Thursday that killed over 100 Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers. Washington has offered $10 million for information leading to his death or capture. Brigadier Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. army in Iraq, denied reports Monday that Zarqawi had been captured in a raid south of Baghdad. Monday morning, a roadside bomb killed a British soldier in the southern city of Basra and wounded two others. |
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