A correspondent to today's
Guardian gives a pointer to the reason the 30th June handover date is being incessantly plugged, one that I've not seen expressed so succinctly elsewhere:
Why is George Bush pressing ahead with the June 30 handover of sovereignty in Iraq? Because the future of US corporations is at stake. They have paid out billions, and this is payback time. Their contracts (for oil production, public utilities, telecommunications) can be signed only by a "sovereign" government. That is an iron rule of international contract law. Without "sovereign" signatures, contracts would not be bankable. And it is clear that no democratically elected government could sign them, given prevailing Iraqi attitudes. That is the real reason why Bush must have a period of puppet government before elections - and my guess, as a barrister, is that the contracts will be signed in its first 14 days.