SUCH IS SOVEREIGNTY:

Iraqi Leaders Flexing Muscles: U.S. officials may have limited influence on the direction of the new government, including its stance toward American troops. (Paul Richter and Mark Mazzetti, April 17, 2005, LA Times)

For the last two years, U.S. authorities have had firm control of the mission in Iraq. They have set rules for military operations and worked with Iraqi leaders blessed by Washington. But the arrival of an elected government this month will take the partnership in new directions that the Americans may find difficult to control.

The ambitious new Iraqi leaders have their own ideas and, with elections ahead, are sensitive to grass-roots pressure. And with the Americans increasingly reluctant to be seen running the country, the Iraqis have taken the initiative in the relationship.

No top Iraqi leader has pushed the Americans to leave the country or challenged basic terms of the relationship, including the status of U.S. forces in Iraq. But in the months ahead, as they write a constitution, Iraqis will start rethinking the fundamental ways in which they deal with the Americans, U.S. officials say.

"They're molding and shaping their government," said a Bush administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "So far, we're not hearing a lot of demands for change. But we know these questions are coming."

So much for neocon dreams and isolationist nightmares of Empire.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 17, 2005 6:07 AM