Sovereignty, what sovereignty?
By
Ehteshamul Haque, Lalmatia, Dhaka
8 July 2004, 18:00 PM
Although vague and unworkable, references to freedom and democracy figure strongly in the rhetoric of the new Iraq. The new "sovereign" Iraq is supposed to be led by an un-elected man that has "invited" the Americans to keep over 150,000 US forces in the country, yet he has no authority over these forces and they are not subject to Iraqi law (or any law in real terms) for the atrocities, murder and destruction they wreak. Allawi will not have the authority to free the many thousands of Iraqi prisoners held in the American prisons scattered across "sovereign" Iraq, or even to ensure they are given a fair trial. Allawi does not even have control over the purse strings of his "sovereign" nation. Bremer having promised to spend the $15 billion the US Congress had earmarked for the reconstruction of Iraq prior to his hand-over ceremony, is no longer there to face any questions over the fact that only $3 billion has been spent. Presumably the new ruler of Iraq (US ambassador John Negroponte) will spend this money as he sees fit. The Americans certainly saw it as appropriate to spend $184 million that had been assigned for drinking water projects instead of spending it on the refurbishment of one of Saddam's palaces to house the 3,000 US embassy officials that John Negroponte needs in "sovereign" Iraq. The consumer group Public Citizen highlighted that we are witnessing "massive outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea, nausea and kidney stones" from drinking of contaminated water -- today's reality in "sovereign" Iraq. The people rightly have no confidence that they will see any benefit from the enormous reserves of oil that the occupiers are kindly managing on behalf of "sovereign" Iraq.The formal transfer of Bush's vision of "sovereignty" for Iraq was put forward two days earlier this week. The media focused upon the note that Ms. Rice had sent to Bush as he sat next to Blair at a NATO meeting. Bush rather appropriately scribbled "Let freedom reign" over the note and passed it to his freedom loving friend. Rampant capitalist freedom of ownership and good old imperialist control are reigning in Iraq, and don't let anyone imagine that they are not there for the long term.
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