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June 28, 2004
Surprise! You're Sovereign

In a move designed to thwart the insurgents who hoped to thwart the smooth and peaceful transfer of "sovereignty" on Wednesday, we secretly transferred said fake power 2 days early.

At the risk of being overly pessimistic, I have to go with Ezra's take on this. Doing it early and in secret is not a sign of success, it's a sign of fear.

But even I didn't expect this. Not only did the Bush Administration sacrifice the political benefit of the transfer, they did themselves harm. Pushing it up two days and conducting it in a tiny room with few watching leaves the media with no relevant spin save "they were afraid of insurgent attacks". Stunningly, they essentially admitted that they can't protect the country and they've no control over the events.

Pandagon

I guess they figure getting it done without everyone blowing up is worth missing the points they'd score by having a big fancy ceremony. Still, do we really think the insurgents are all bummed now? They're sitting in their spider holes going, "Oh fuck! Those bastards tricked us! What are we going to do now?"

Anyway, I wish the Iraqis luck with their new found "freedom." It sounds really scary.


In related news, The Onion reports that, despite appearances, most Iraqis are still alive.

Meanwhile, Bush's presence in Istanbul (not Constantinople) has turned that mostly Muslim city of about 10 million into a veritable open-air prison, which I'm sure is doing wonders for how we're thought of over there.

Comments

Previous Comments

in today's kafka-like transformation from occupation to peace keeping force, one is left to wonder what legitimacy the US has left on the world stage as a stablizing force capable of promoting civil society.

all i saw today was bremer taking the target off his back and putting on the backs of US appointed puppets. although, to his credit he did remember to wave to the cameras before flying back to the US.