Doug Lorimer
"Occupation ends", "Iraqis now in control". These will undoubtedly be the sort of headlines that the corporate press carries on July 1, following the nominal handover of "sovereignty" in Iraq at midnight on June 30 from Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) head Paul Bremer to the US-appointed Interim Government of Iraq. Both formally and in reality, however, the IGI will have little power:
- Under UN Security Council Resolution 1546, which was adopted unanimously on June 8, the IGI must refrain "from taking any actions affecting Iraq's destiny beyond the limited interim period until an elected transitional government of Iraq assumes office", now scheduled for January 2006.
- There will be a US-commanded "multinational force" made up of 138,000 US troops and 23,000 troops from other countries.
- The UN resolution gives this army authority to "take all necessary measures to contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq", i.e., to undertake military operations without even the formal approval of the IGI.
- The new Iraqi armed forces — currently 7500 troops and the 35,000-member paramilitary Iraqi National Guard — were US recruited and trained.
- Under the interim Iraqi constitution imposed by Bremer, these forces will be "partners" in the multinational force: i.e. they will operate under US military command.
- All the "laws, regulations, orders and directives" issued by the CPA are to remain in full effect after June 30.
- The CPA will be transformed into the largest US embassy in the world, with 1300 US officials and control over US$18.6 billion in "reconstruction" contracts. UN resolution 1546 requires the IGI to honour all contracts awarded by the CPA.
- So far only $3.2 billion of the $18.6 billion "reconstruction" package has been spent — at least $2 billion of it, according to the June 20 Washington Post, on "hiring private guards for contractors, buying them armored vehicles and building secure housing compounds".
- Only 15,000 Iraqis have been hired as a result of the "reconstruction" program, despite the fact that 60% of the Iraqi work force is unemployed and the program was supposed to provide jobs for 240,000 Iraqis.
- The new US embassy will have branches in all major Iraqi cities to, as US President George Bush put it on May 24, "work closely with Iraqis at all levels of government".
- On June 30, the 200 US officials directing Iraqi government ministries in Baghdad will be renamed "consultants", according to June 21 Boston Globe.
From Green Left Weekly, June 30, 2004.
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