New Iraqi Gov't Can't Expel U.S. Troops

WASHINGTON - The new Iraqi government won't have the authority to evict American forces from Iraq (news - web sites), a top State Department official said Thursday — quickly reversing a statement made minutes earlier before a House panel.

The conflicting exchanges with Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman at a House hearing reflected the difficult balance the U.S. government is trying to strike as it moves closer to the June 30 handover of power to an as-yet unnamed interim Iraqi government.

The United States needs to convince Iraqis that they will have full sovereignty and are no longer under occupation. But they also need to convince them that U.S. forces aren't leaving anytime soon. They say if Iraqis believe the Americans will abandon them, they would be less likely to cooperate with U.S. forces or a U.S.-backed Iraqi government

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040513/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_transition_1

The Iraqi's will be in charge. Really, they will. It is their country and they will be calling the shots and making the decisions....as long as we agree, Right?
Some sovereignty.

flammery.

after all we liberated them</sarcasm>

The continuing presence of the American wehrmacht will be bad enough for the new government to have to contend with, and somehow buffer the natural resentment of the citizenry against the occupiers.

What's worse by far is all the little contracts the CPA is cutting to carve up Iraq's resources and sell them off to outside interests. Those contracts will survive the transition, by law, and foreign companies will control Iraq's wealth-generating capacities.

after June 30th. Our media, of course, ignored his statement. We'll see.

or is it a thousand points of spite?

http://tinyurl.com/2vghr

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- U.S. and coalition forces will leave Iraq if asked to do so by an interim Iraqi government, a State Department official told the House Thursday.