Bush's New, New Lie

Here's a pop quiz.

Question: Which of the following changes will take place in Iraq on June 30, as part of the "transfer of sovereignty"?

a. Iraqis will be given some or total control over their military.

b. Iraqis will be given some or total control over their nation's purse strings.

c. The United States will begin a phased withdrawal of its troops.

d. Iraqis will hold elections to decide who will govern the country.

e. None of the above.

Answer: None of the above.

June 30 simply marks the selection of yet another "governing council," picked by foreigners (some combination of the UN, U.S. and UK) to act as a front for the U.S.-led occupation army. It will be just business as usual, except for a new set of misleading titles. For example, the "Coalition Provisional Authority" will be renamed the "United States Embassy," staffed by some 2000 employees.

That's about it. Really.

For months we've been encouraged by spinmeisters in Washington to believe that there is something momentous about the so-called handover. The national media, too, has relentlessly trumpeted the event so often and so simple-mindedly as a watershed moment that it has taken on the hue of history in the making.

In reality, the United States plans to send new troops to Iraq. It is building 14 "enduring" bases in the Tigris and Euphrates river basins. And we have appointed tough-guy Reagan-era hatchet man John Negroponte to run the world's biggest embassy in the same building that currently houses the CPA. The United States will continue to control all the money, all the military forces (U.S., Iraqi, foreign mercenaries) and all the key political appointments in Iraq. To call this "limited" sovereignty is a bit like describing the situation in Iraq as "volatile."

So, it came as a relief when Colin Powell deigned to finally clarify this puzzling situation the other day. He said, "Some of [Iraq's] sovereignty will have to be given back [after June 30], if I can put it that way, or limited by them."

Still confused? Wait, there's more.

"[Some] of that sovereignty they are going to allow us to exercise on their behalf and with their permission. It is not as if we are seizing anything away from them. It is with the understanding that they need our help and for us to provide that help we have to be able to operate freely, which in some ways infringes on what some would call full sovereignty."

Got that? See, we invaded Iraq to liberate the Iraqi people. Then when it seemed like they were saying, "Thank you for getting rid of Saddam, now please leave," we promised to hand them back their country on June 30, 2004. But now it's painfully clear that Iraqis are not really ready to handle that kind of responsibility. So we are just going to borrow back their sovereignty -- with their permission, of course. Sure, we'll give it back to them, but only when we're damn good and ready (namely, when they stop acting all Islamic and anti-American and stuff).

But all this business of defining "sovereignty" is really beside the point. The point, so to speak, is that nobody needs to worry about what's going down there in Iraq because everything's cool between us and the Iraqi people.

All that the "handover" amounts to is a road sign being waved at the world -- and especially the American people -- that says, in effect, "Nothing to see here, keep moving." The Bush administration is staging a "handover" so that potential voters will no longer view Iraq as "our problem," but instead think of it sort of like Afghanistan or Haiti, or all the other places where we have dabbled in nation-building-at-gunpoint in the past. Which is to say, not think of it at all.

In testimony on Capitol Hill two weeks ago, Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman admitted as much when he noted that June 30 would provide "a very important Iraqi face" on the ground. Grossman also acknowledged that this veneer of independence would indeed be very thin. "The arrangement would be, I think as we are doing today, that we would do our very best to consult with that interim government and take their views into account," he said, adding that American commanders will "have the right, and the power, and the obligation" to use force whenever they see fit.