A Tenuous Grip on Sovereignty

BAGHDAD =97 On a = busy commercial=20 strip, U.S. soldiers cajole a ragged band of reluctant Iraqi = army=20 recruits to take charge of their own streets. In the = highest=20 corridors of power, U.S. officials press Iraqi politicians to meet = political deadlines. A year after occupation authority head L. = Paul Bremer=20 III handed the formal reins to an appointed Iraqi government, = private=20 military firms contracted by the Pentagon continue to wield guns = with=20 scant regard for Iraqi authorities.

But long gone are the = days=20 when U.S. and British officials of Bremer's Coalition Provisional=20 Authority controlled all aspects of the Iraqi state. Ministries = that=20 oversee Iraq's natural resources, energy reserves, schools, = hospitals and=20 finances have evolved over the last year into vigorous players in = Iraq's=20 daily life. And elected Iraqi politicians are devising their own=20 constitution with little direct involvement by U.S. = officials.

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=0A= "We=20 cannot any longer simply dictate, but have to lobby, persuade, = cajole and=20 implore," says Larry Diamond, a former Baghdad-based CPA official = who is=20 now a scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "At the = same=20 time, how independent can the government really be when it is = still=20 largely, in fact utterly, dependent on American troops for its = security?=20 Ultimately, full independence will only come when this dependence = on the=20 U.S. for security ends."

Bremer handed formal control of = Iraq over=20 to the interim government of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in = a=20 low-key June 28, 2004, ceremony that lasted less than 20 minutes. = But the=20 reality of Iraqis taking control of their own streets, government = and=20 borders has been a longer and more tangled = story.

Sovereignty =97 a=20 nation's control over its affairs and territories =97 is about = symbols of=20 national pride, and command over physical space and = decision-making. U.S.=20 Embassy officials continue to occupy the same Republican Palace = from which=20 Bremer, and Saddam Hussein before him, ran the country. It lies = within the=20 Green Zone, a four-square-mile fortress in the heart of the = nation's=20 capital controlled by the U.S. military.

Many Iraqi = ministries are=20 also within the Green Zone. Though the Western officials who ran = them in=20 the wake of the March 2003 invasion are now gone, new Westerners = have=20 taken on roles as advisors or consultants, some of them paid = directly out=20 of the Iraqi public treasury.

Washington officials visiting = Baghdad=20 last month acknowledged that they were pressuring Iraqis to move = quickly=20 toward drafting a constitution by an Aug. 15 deadline. Although = Iraqis are=20 making their own choices, the U.S. insists, for example, that Iraq = remain=20 unified and that the future government operate with laws = respecting human=20 rights and democratic principles.

Sovereignty also means = having=20 the legal power to use armed forces or to jail and prosecute = lawbreakers.=20 But significant stretches of Iraq remain beyond the control of the = government.

The Iraqi government, militias, the U.S. = military and=20 even insurgent groups all claim the right to use arms. The U.S. = military=20 holds thousands of Iraqi prisoners. Even foreign-influenced = insurgent=20 groups hold their own trials, using what they say is Islamic law = and=20 procedures, on Iraqi soil to punish alleged = collaborators.

Western=20 security contractors, like private armies, operate in a = quasi-legal world=20 that has drawn the concern of U.S. military commanders as well as = the=20 Iraqi government. Inside well-guarded compounds of security firms = such as=20 Sandi Group, founded by a wealthy Iraqi American, hundreds of = uniformed=20 young Iraqi recruits train in a warehouse amid crates full of = machine=20 guns, as if preparing to take over the world in a James Bond = movie.=20

Asked at a news conference about clashes = between=20 U.S. Marines and contractors in Fallouja this month, Iraqi = Interior=20 Minister Bayan Jabr, the nation's top cop, shrugged. "Ask the = Americans=20 and the contractors," he said.

"I don't think a country can = be=20 sovereign with such forces on its soil," says Sebastian Deschamps, = a=20 scholar based in France and founder of PMCs Monitor, a website = that=20 advocates tighter rules for private military companies. =

U.N.=20 Security Council Resolution 1546 enshrined Iraqi sovereignty in=20 international law. Americans don't run Iraq's = security=20 matters; rather, there is a "high degree of coordination" between = Iraqi=20 and American forces, a U.S. official in Baghdad said.

But = the mere=20 presence of the 140,000 troops and their immunity from Iraqi law = have made=20 the concept of sovereignty a tough sell on the streets. Though = many Iraqis=20 say U.S. troops are needed to maintain security, the large armed = foreign=20 presence undercuts claims of Iraqi sovereignty and erodes support = for the=20 shaky coalition of U.S. soldiers, Shiite political parties and = Iraqi Kurds=20 that runs Iraq.

"As long as the Americans don't believe or = trust=20 the religious parties, our sovereignty is partial," said Riyadh = Bahr=20 Uloum, a city council member in the shrine city of Najaf. "They = say they=20 are serious about the democratic process, but it seems that they = still=20 fear the Shiites. We have some sovereignty, but the American = control is=20 still dominant."

The sense that Iraqis, even after braving = bombs=20 and explosions to cast votes, still don't control their destiny = wounds=20 national pride and ultimately may play into the hands of the = insurgents,=20 who contend that the Americans actually are intent on imperial=20 expansion.

"What does sovereignty mean to me if I can be = shot at by=20 any soldier on the street for any traffic violation without any=20 responsibility on the American soldier?" said Ali Nejam, 37, a = Baghdad=20 merchant.

The U.S. remains the key power broker in Iraq, = according=20 to such observers as a retired U.S. intelligence official with = three=20 decades' experience in the Middle East.

"I doubt very much = that=20 anyone =97 governments or publics =97 in the Middle East thinks = for a moment=20 that the Iraqi government is independent of the U.S. or would last = five=20 minutes if the U.S. forces were to leave," said the official, who = spoke on=20 condition of anonymity.

U.S. Embassy officials who replaced = the CPA=20 administrators have struggled to step back significantly from = involvement=20 in day-to-day Iraqi affairs, repeatedly stressing that Iraqis are = making=20 the key decisions.

Iraqis have often aggressively pursued = their own=20 affairs, occasionally repudiating American plans and interests. = Shiite=20 Islamists running on an anti-occupation platform handily won the = Jan. 30=20 elections despite mysterious millions spent on TV advertising by = Allawi,=20 the secular, pro-U.S. interim prime minister.

Though the = U.S. has=20 refused for a quarter of a century to establish ties with Iran's = clerical=20 regime, Iraqi diplomats regularly visit Tehran, and Iran's foreign = minister, Kamal Kharrazi, was received warmly by officials in = Baghdad=20 during a May visit.

Despite U.S. plans to disband militias = in Iraq,=20 many of them run by religious groups, the newly elected government = has=20 praised the Shiite Badr Brigade and the Kurdish = peshmerga=20 as integral parts of Iraq's future.

And despite Bush=20 administration hopes that a new Iraq could serve as a bridge = between the=20 Arab world and Israel and the West, members of Iraq's Islamic = clerical=20 elite regularly denounce Israel and the U.S. in their Friday = sermons.=20 Iraq's dominant Shiite religious parties despise Israel as much as = Hussein=20 did.

"All forces of evil have met and joined together to = harm the=20 new government and impede it from doing its work and bringing = prosperity=20 to Iraqis," Sheik Muhammad Ali Radhi told his parishioners in the=20 moderate, middle-class Shiite neighborhood of Karada last week. = "All evil=20 forces like the orphans of Saddam, the Americans, the Jews and = Zionists,=20 and the Crusaders have allied together for this = purpose."

Americans=20 no longer control Iraq's governmental institutions. An elected = Iraqi=20 government now determines school curriculum, criminal sentencing = standards=20 and budgets for healthcare, port reconstruction and other = governmental=20 services. Officials of the transitional government say the U.S. = stays out=20 of day-to-day decision-making unless called upon for = help.

"Nobody=20 interfered in my job at all, and I would not have let anyone = interfere,"=20 said National Assembly Speaker Hachim Hassani. "But if I wanted to = consult=20 with the Americans on certain things or there is something I think = where=20 they could be helpful and supportive, I would approach them and = hopefully=20 they would be helpful. They never imposed on me."

Where = Iraqis=20 have the capacity, they've won independence, say officials of the=20 transitional government. And there are signs Iraqis are taking a = more=20 active role in security as well as governance. Though Iraqi = security=20 forces mostly provide a supporting role in U.S.-led = counterinsurgency=20 efforts, they have begun plotting their own course.

Though = their=20 troops are continually targeted by insurgents, Iraqi military = officials=20 boast that over the last year, this nation's armed forces have = improved in=20 their fighting ability, increased their specialized training, = bolstered=20 their officer corps and are better supplied. Such factors give = Iraq's new=20 army the ability to act more independently.

"Increasingly, = they're=20 taking charge of their own security operations," said a U.S. = diplomat in=20 Baghdad. "That shows me that they're practicing their = sovereignty."=20

Just outside the office of Ministry of Defense Chief of = Staff Gen.=20 Babaker Zebari sits a U.S. Army major, one of many American = officials=20 positioned at the highest levels of power in the Iraqi state. = Zebari,=20 however, insists that he's not under the control of anyone. =

"In=20 terms of our duties, we are already 100% independent," he said. = "We can do=20 what we want. But there's one thing. There are the multinational = forces.=20 And they have a command. And all armed forces in Iraq are under = its=20 authority."