By Robert Fisk

June 29, 2004 “The Star” — Beirut

So, in the end, America’s enemies set the date.

The handover of “full sovereignty” was secretly brought forward so that the ex-CIA intelligence officer who is now premier of Iraq could avoid another bloody offensive by America’s enemies.

What was supposed to be the most important date in Iraq’s modern history was changed - like a birthday party, because it might rain on Wednesday.

Pitiful is the word that comes to mind.

Here we were, handing “full sovereignty” to the people of Iraq - “full”, of course, providing we forget the 160 000 foreign soldiers whom Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has apparently asked to stay on in Iraq, “full” providing we forget the 3 000 US diplomats in Baghdad who will constitute the largest US embassy in the world.

And we never even told the Iraqi people we had changed the date.

Few, save of course for the Iraqis, understood the cruellest paradox of the event.