In the "nothing left up my sleeve" department, the US pre-empted any further violence due to the handover of sovereignty to Iraq by making the changeover today instead.

The United States transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government on Monday, formally ending the controversial 14-month occupation two days earlier than expected.

In a surprise ceremony that was finished before it was announced and before ordinary Iraqis were aware of it, Iraq's outgoing U.S. governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraqi officials sealing the transfer of powers.

However despite the grim news, kudos to the Americans for having the nounce to wrong-foot these terrorists. While the media likes to focus on the worse aspects of the war, it is not as one-sided as you would think. For example the ongoing "Good News From Iraq" series by Chrenkoff collects much of the news that doesn't seem to make prominent news in the papers or on TV. Despite what you read and hear things are not as bad as they seem. Today marks the major turning point in Iraq's journey. What happens from here is now as much up to Iraqi's themselves as anyone else.

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