That it was only a handful of people, gathered together for less than half an hour, who witnessed the birth of a new Iraq probably saved Iraqis and the Coalition forces many lives; let us hope, however, that this handover ceremony was not reflective of how the new Iraqi government will operate. Secrecy and speed defeated, at least for the moment, the increasingly violent insurgents, but it is precisely the qualities of secrecy and haste that the new Iraqi government must avoid.

Making Bush and Blair seem particularly devious and secretive, the BBC reports:

Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair — apparently the only leaders at the NATO summit aware that the handover was taking place — exchanged smiles and a brief handshake after consulting their watches.

With 160,000 Coalition troops still in Iraq, in addition to the privately contracted security services — less official but no less prominent — the immediate effects of the handover may be difficult to discern. The New York Times reports that the new American embassy in Iraq will be “the world’s largest,” and will manage the staggering sum — eight billion dollars — that will be channeled into Iraq as reconstruction aid.  

If Dr. Iyad Allawi, the new Iraqi Prime Minister, should impose some form of martial law in the coming days to control the bloody chaos that is Iraq, the birth of a new Iraq may become an even more nervous occasion. The vacuously buoyant note — “Let freedom reign!” — that President Bush jotted to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice could not strike a more dissonant note with the very cautious optimism on the ground in Iraq.  

Mimi Hanaoka