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Early Iraq handover shocks rebels, reporters
Dogs sniffed for explosives, mobile phones were impounded and U.S. officials bombarded reporters with contradictory orders and scant information just moments before Iraq formally regained sovereign powers.
Journalists had been hastily summoned for what was billed as U.S. administrator Paul Bremer's last news conference before a handover not due until Wednesday, but the confusion and tight security suggested that something extraordinary was afoot.
Two days early, Bremer was to dissolve the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), end more than 14 months of U.S.-British occupation and turn over control to an Iraqi interim government led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
There in a small room sat Allawi, Interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and Iraq's top judge, Medhat al-Mahmoud, sipping tea or coffee with Bremer and his deputy, British special representative David Richmond.
"This is a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to," said Yawar, wearing traditional Arab robes, in the first of several brief speeches.
Allawi said his government now felt "in control of the situation, in control of the security situation."
"EX-ADMINISTRATOR"
Bremer, apologizing for his lack of Arabic, read a short letter noting the demise of the coalition authority he headed for 13 months, the end of occupation and the assumption of "full sovereign authority" by Allawi's government.
"We welcome Iraq's steps to take its rightful place with sovereignty and honor among the free nations of the world. Sincerely, L. Paul Bremer, ex-administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority," he concluded, to laughter and applause.
U.S. media officials had dropped some obscurely worded hints that the transfer of power might take place before June 30 -- "Game day will be in the next few," said one email Sunday.
But the timing was known only to half a dozen senior coalition officials the night before, a senior official said.
"It was a consideration," said a senior military official. "It has a beneficial effect that we will take advantage of and the Iraqi security forces will take advantage of."
Another official in the U.S.-led coalition said Allawi's request to accelerate the handover was security-related.
"He made it clear to Ambassador Bremer that he was considering his overall security strategy when he proposed that sovereignty be handed over as soon as possible," he said. Shortly after the ceremony ended, Bremer headed for the airport and left Iraq in a C-130 transport plane. There was no word on his immediate destination but one official said Bremer would eventually go to Washington to rejoin his family and then go on holiday at their home in Vermont. |
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