Wreckage of an Iraq policy: "The head of the American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council was assassinated in a car bombing in central Baghdad yesterday, delivering a stunning blow to the United States administration's policy in Iraq, just weeks before it plans to hand over sovereignty to a new Iraqi government.
Izzedin Salim was killed at the entrance to the green zone, the US headquarters in Baghdad and the most heavily guarded place in Iraq, and US forces were powerless to prevent it.
... The Bush administration is facing accusations that the 'handover' on 30 June will be purely cosmetic, allowing it to claim, before November's presidential election, that the occupation of Iraq is over. Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, let the cat out of the bag at the weekend when he said the handover was 'so that it no longer looks like an occupation'."
- posted by geoff @ #