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US gives iraq self rule two days early Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5530040http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5530040
Iraq Formally Returns to Self-Rule Two Days Early
Mon Jun 28, 2004 08:47 AM ET
By Alistair Lyon and Lin Noueihed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected Monday, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a secretive 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 immediately flying out of the country.
The low-key ceremony was over before it was announced and came as a surprise to ordinary Iraqis. Its hurried and furtive nature appeared to reflect fears that guerrillas could stage a spectacular attack on the scheduled date of June 30.
At a second ceremony in the afternoon -- this time broadcast live on Iraqi television -- the government was sworn in and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged all Iraqis to stand together against foreign militants wreaking havoc in the country.
"I call on our people to stand united to expel the foreign terrorists who are killing our children and destroying our country," Allawi said, in comments broadcast around the world.
At the earlier ceremony, which formally transferred sovereignty at 10:26 a.m. (0626 GMT), President Ghazi Yawar hailed "a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to."
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.
U.S. officials attending a NATO summit in Istanbul admitted that thwarting a surge in attacks believed planned for the formal Wednesday handover date was a factor in the decision to advance it to Monday, which they said Allawi had requested.
"We have said all along that we believed that the terrorists on the ground were going to do everything they can to literally and figuratively blow up the handover of sovereignty," one official said.
Such an attack could have damaged attempts by President Bush, who faces a presidential election in November, to be seen to be starting to disengage from Iraq, where hundreds of U.S. soldiers have died since last year's invasion.
Despite a massive military effort, U.S. forces have been unable to halt guerrilla attacks around the country.
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 Corporal 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 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, including 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 General 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.
© Copyright Reuters 2004.
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