the Greater Nomadic Council

Hot Potato

We just couldn't wait:

The United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected Monday, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a secretive ceremony formally ending 14 months of occupation.

How stable can things be if we have to do this in secret? Also, one thing that I have yet to see mentioned—these Iraqis willing to risk their lives in order to help run the country deserve some praise. Certainly many, if not all of them must have a significant desire for power, but I would like to think that they also have an honest desire to see Iraq become a stable, democratic nation. Maybe if our politicians had to risk more we wouldn't need to so regularly bemoan their ridiculous partisanship, pettiness, and small-minded proclamations. Of course, I know very little about the character or motives of the new Iraqi politicians, so this is all speculation. My inner cynic tells me they're all just as bad as our politicians, if not worse.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, I'm not criticizing the administration for turning over sovereignty early. It's a pragmatic decision motivated by a recognition of the danger to Iraqi government officials. However, along with being a bit surprising given the administration's tendency to prefer ideology to reality, it's still indicative of the instability and fighting plaguing the nation.

2ND UPDATE: The news looks like it was broken by a blog. So, now blogs are scooping mainstream news media?

3RD UPDATE: Juan Cole speculates 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."