The truth about the transition: Fumbling the handoff

by Katie Paarlberg

On June 28, Iraqi sovereignty was transferred from the U.S. to Iraq's interim government in a small ceremony that took place earlier than expected. "Two days ahead of schedule, the world witnessed the arrival of a free and sovereign Iraqi government," said President George W. Bush in a press conference. "The Iraqi people have their country back" (Associated Press, 6/28/04).

The Coalition Provisional Authority has "handed over" a nation in a state of stunning disrepair, where bloody attacks on both soldiers and civilians occur daily. Its infrastructure remains shattered. Although Congress approved an $18.4 billion aid package last year to finance Iraq's reconstruction, the White House has admitted that only 2% of it has been spent - and none of that on construction, health care, sanitation, or water projects. (Rajiv Chandrasekaran: "U.S. Funds for Iraq Are Largely Unspent." The Washington Post, 7/4/04).

Moreover, Iraqi sovereignty has not changed the fundamentals of the U.S. military occupation, or the fact that Iraq is still operating in large part under U.S. jurisdiction. Unfortunately, the handover of power is looking more and more like an election-season public relations stunt.

On June 29, the Win Without War coalition, of which Sojourners is a member, published some facts about the transition of power in Iraq:

* 138,000 American soldiers still occupy Iraq and do not fall under the jurisdiction of Iraqi "sovereignty." These troops, commanded by U.S. officers, can go where they want and do what they want, whenever they want to do it.

* Every U.S. soldier, Coalition employee, and private contractor is immune from Iraqi law. Halliburton employees will remain above Iraqi law.

* The U.S. continues to control the Republican Palace, Iraq's presidential headquarters. Despite the demand of Iraq's new president that Americans hand it over, the palace will be turned into the new U.S. embassy; it will be the largest American embassy in the world. More than $100 million was diverted from programs for potable water in order to fund the new embassy.

* Iraqis continue to live under more than 100 U.S. edicts, covering everything from tax law to crime to foreign policy.

* U.S. taxpayers continue to pay more than all of the other coalition nations combined by a factor of 120 to 1. So far, U.S. taxpayers have paid $150 billion for Iraq.

* The majority of Iraqis want U.S. troops to leave Iraq, believing that the troops are an obstacle to their security - not a source of it.

* Despite the expiration of the U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq in December of 2005, there is currently no exit strategy from Iraq. The U.S. is building 14 long-term military bases and planning for a decades-long presence in Iraq. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said last week: "I think it's entirely possible" that U.S. troops could be stationed in Iraq for years.

* The new prime minister of the Iraqi government, Iyad Allawi, has been on the CIA payroll for years. Moreover, he is unsupported by the Iraqi people. In a recent independent poll, Iraqis rated him 16 among 17 of that country's potential leaders. Last in the poll was the new president, Ghazi Ajil al-Yawar (Aparisim Ghosh: "Who's Iyad Allawi, and Why Should He Run Iraq?" Time, 6/1/04).

* About 150 Americans remain in Iraqi ministries as advisers, and many American and Iraqi officials expect them to exert wide influence. As The Wall Street Journal points out, "The interim Iraqi government is to be a caretaker that lacks the ability to write new laws, exert full control over the country's nascent army and security forces, or undertake any ambitious initiatives."

Concerns abound about the handover of Iraqi sovereignty, and not only because of the power that U.S. interests still wield there. Win Without War has asserted that the handover will decrease international security by raising false expectations of sovereignty and generating further resentment around the world. The Iraqi people must be given full and true jurisdiction over a new state, instead of sovereignty on the surface while U.S. powers maintain a long-term presence in a nation where they live above the law.

Katie Paarlberg is organizer at Sojourners.

For more information, see http://www.winwithoutwarus.org.

(This article was published in SojoMail, a free service of Sojourners Magazine).