Sovereignty Without Substance - by Juan Cole: "Paul Bremer suddenly left Iraq on Monday, having 'transferred sovereignty' to the caretaker Iraqi government two days early.

"It is hard to interpret this move as anything but a precipitous flight. It is just speculation on my part, but I suspect that the Americans must have developed intelligence that there might be a major strike on the Coalition Provisional Headquarters on Wednesday if a formal ceremony were held to mark a transfer of sovereignty. Since the U.S. military is so weak in Iraq and appears to have poor intelligence on the guerrilla insurgency, the Bush administration could not take the chance that a major bombing or other attack would mar the ceremony.

"The surprise move will throw off all the major news organizations, which were planning intensive coverage of the ceremonies originally planned for Wednesday. This entire exercise is a publicity stunt and has almost no substance to it. Gwen Ifill said on U.S. television on Sunday that she had talked to Condoleezza Rice, and that her hope was that when something went wrong in Iraq, the journalists would now grill Allawi about it rather than the Bush administration. (Or words to that effect). Ifill seems to me to have given away the whole Bush show. That's what this whole thing is about. It is public relations and manipulation of journalists. Let's see if they fall for it."

They've already 'fallen' for it big time. The 'transfer of sovereignty' along with the 'building of democracy' are essential myths that the corporate media wont touch, just as it wont touch the reality that the US will continue to occupy the country with over 130,000 troops, build permanent bases and dominate the oil resources. The real 'transfer of sovereignty' is from Paul Bremer to John Negroponte.

Sovereignty Without Substance - by Juan Cole: "Paul Bremer suddenly left Iraq on Monday, having 'transferred sovereignty' to the caretaker Iraqi government two days early.

"It is hard to interpret this move as anything but a precipitous flight. It is just speculation on my part, but I suspect that the Americans must have developed intelligence that there might be a major strike on the Coalition Provisional Headquarters on Wednesday if a formal ceremony were held to mark a transfer of sovereignty. Since the U.S. military is so weak in Iraq and appears to have poor intelligence on the guerrilla insurgency, the Bush administration could not take the chance that a major bombing or other attack would mar the ceremony.

"The surprise move will throw off all the major news organizations, which were planning intensive coverage of the ceremonies originally planned for Wednesday. This entire exercise is a publicity stunt and has almost no substance to it. Gwen Ifill said on U.S. television on Sunday that she had talked to Condoleezza Rice, and that her hope was that when something went wrong in Iraq, the journalists would now grill Allawi about it rather than the Bush administration. (Or words to that effect). Ifill seems to me to have given away the whole Bush show. That's what this whole thing is about. It is public relations and manipulation of journalists. Let's see if they fall for it."

They've already 'fallen' for it big time. The 'transfer of sovereignty' along with the 'building of democracy' are essential myths that the corporate media wont touch, just as it wont touch the reality that the US will continue to occupy the country with over 130,000 troops, build permanent bases and dominate the oil resources. The real 'transfer of sovereignty' is from Paul Bremer to John Negroponte.