sisyphusshrugged | define "autonomy"

Our Fearless Leader isn't sorry he got it wrong, and he wants the UN to join his war (parenthetically, I think Manhattan has suffered entirely enough, and I for one would truly appreciate it if he'd tell the world to go fuck itself by teleconference from now on)

Two years after warning the United Nations to act against Iraq or risk irrelevancy, President George W. Bush has defended the U.S.-led invasion and has urged sceptical world leaders to help Iraq become a democracy in the face of a deadly insurgency.

In a U.N. speech with election-year overtones, Bush made no apologies about his decision to go to war against Iraq in 2003 without U.N. Security Council backing based on claims Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which were not found.

Instead, he acknowledged the presence of Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister of Iraq, and declared, "Since the last meeting of this General Assembly, the people of Iraq have regained sovereignty."

Later, he added, "The U.N., and its member nations, must respond to Prime Minister Allawi's request, and do more to help build an Iraq that is secure, democratic, federal, and free."

Bush's 21-minute speech was met mostly with stony silence, save for polite applause at the end.

Let's us see how sovereign Iraq is, shall we?

The Green Zone -- also known as the International Zone -- is an approximately 5-square-kilometer area protected on two sides by the banks of the Tigris River.

In the 1970s, before Saddam Hussein became the preeminent power in the country, the area was little more than a series of normal city streets and a few privately owned homes. Then the area grew bigger, as Saddam built a complex of palaces and high-class houses for government officials and his cronies.

By the time his regime was toppled last year, the area had become an exclusive zone from which many ordinary citizens were banned.

When the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) took over last year, the Green Zone became its administrative headquarters but also housed many military officials. Paul Bremer, the civil administrator, and Lieutenant General Richardo Sanchez, until recently the commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq, had their offices in the Green Zone.

Since the handover of power to Iraqi officials in June, the government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has put pressure on the United States to hand back some of the territory.

U.S. diplomats offer few details about the negotiations, only saying that talks are continuing.

U.S. and Iraqi officials here said the prime minister has personally and pointedly brought up the issue with U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. The top U.S. diplomat, for his part, has claimed he is only in charge of a small portion of the Green Zone being used by the embassy.

U.S. military commanders are equally vague on where the talks stand. The only available comment has come from Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Boylan, director of the press operations for the U.S. military here.

"At the present time, with the negotiations and consultations with the Iraqi government, we are using what we need," Boylan said. "We expect that in the future, as things progress for both the Iraqi government and [U.S. military] operations, [we will] be able to return portions of the Green Zone. That will be in direct consultation and discussions with the [Iraqi] government."

So, you know, maybe not so sovereign yet, but we're working on it. Right?

President George W. Bush and his advisers like to say that sovereignty has been returned to the Iraqis. But the heart of the Iraqi capital, where the symbols of power are most concentrated, belongs to America. Enclosed inside a maze of blast walls, protected by Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters, the 10 square kilometers of the Green Zone contain some of Baghdad's finest real estate--the local equivalent of the White House, the Washington Monument and other prime sites in downtown Washington. Many Iraqis, including senior ministers and the mayor of Baghdad, want the Americans to move out of town. But the Americans won't budge, and don't have to.

Far from being dismantled, the Green Zone is expanding. NEWSWEEK has learned that at least five U.S. security and construction companies are planning to build compounds on the zone's perimeter, eventually to be incorporated into the rest of the area. That's because the fight for space inside the zone is intense. A small U.N. team lives in the Green Zone, and plans are underway to build a future U.N. compound within the area. Key command centers for the 140,000-strong American military force occupy several of the most prominent buildings. Favored embassies and foreign companies are there, too. "Two thirds of the whole question of occupation is in those homes and those buildings [inside the Green Zone]," says Iraqi Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mehdi, whose office is in charge of negotiating the issue with the Americans. "The question of sovereignty--but also of security and national dignity, and even economic prosperity--is there."

...

The Green Zone is certainly a world unto itself. Women in shorts and T shirts jog down broad avenues, and the Pizza Inn does a brisk business from the parking lot of the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy. Near the Green Zone Bazaar, Iraqi kids hawk pornographic DVDs to soldiers. Sheik Fuad Rashid, the U.S.-appointed imam of the local mosque, dresses like a nun, dyes his hair platinum blond and claims that Mary Mother of Jesus appeared to him in a vision (hence the getup). On any given night, residents can listen to karaoke, play badminton or frequent one of several rowdy bars, including an invitation-only speakeasy run by the CIA. At the Green Zone Cafe--where contractors toting 9mm pistols smoke hookahs while an Iraqi drummer provides entertainment--a sign on the door warns customers to empty their weapons before consuming alcohol.

To some, the Green Zone feels like a vast isolation chamber. One recent night at a saloon called The Bunker, a resident contractor asked, "So, what's going on out there in Iraq anyway?" He hadn't left the Green Zone in six months. "It's like Plato's republic in here, all of these well-meaning, smart people who want to do the right thing," says one security contractor and Green Zone regular. "But they never leave here and they have no idea what's happening in the country they're supposed to be building. It's totally absurd."

...

The siege mentality of American occupiers feeds anger among ordinary Iraqis. Baghdad's mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, has asked the Americans to withdraw not just from the Green Zone but also from other barricaded ghettos--sort of mini Green Zones--because they are an affront to Iraqi dignity, but also due to the severe traffic problems they create. Several key bridges and thoroughfares are off-limits to ordinary Iraqis. Even Abu Nawas Street, a tree-lined avenue across the Tigris River from the zone, has been closed since last year, when hotels there barricaded themselves behind blast walls and razor wire. Now Mayor al-Tamimi is trying to reopen the street to foot traffic. "Abu Nawas used to be the center of the life of the city," says al-Tamimi. "It will be again."

Legally, the Americans don't have to move out, at least not yet. On June 27, the day before Iraqi sovereignty was declared, L. Paul Bremer issued one of his last executive orders as Iraq's U.S. administrator. Known as Order No. 9, it extends the right of occupation forces to control properties until the Iraqi government decides otherwise. Officially, the United States is negotiating with the Iraqi government over the issue. But privately, U.S. officials say plans to move the Americans out are "fantasy."

Meet the new boss. You know the rest.