Reply #54: This is just a cosmetic change

[Emillereid]

The more they can put a so-called international and/or Iraqi face on the occupation the better, but the real control will still be still ours. Remember the EU members are too beneficiaries of imperialism, so I'm sure that the Bushits realize that they can gain valuable alliances by cutting them a larger piece of the pie. But until every last US soldier leave Iraq I will not believe that we have in any way given up our objective of geo-political control of Iraq or its oil.

These quotes from the article in the Independent are telling:
"America's chief post-war administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, also suggested that US-led forces would remain on a different basis. "Our presence here will change from an occupation to an invited presence," he said. "I'm sure the Iraqi government is going to want to have coalition forces here for its own security for some time.

There have been no specifics yet about how the international community would control the mainly American and British forces in Iraq. Nato remains the only strong possibility because it would provide international credibility while leaving control with a military organisation which Washington dominates."

Anyone old enough to remember Diem -- always handy to install a friendly government who then asks for your military intervention. Can't imagine for one minute that the Iraqi resistance fighters are going to fooled, but it's probably a ploy to quiet Europeans and Americans.