Da The New York Times del 13/07/2006
Originale su http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/world/middleeast/14handover.html

In Joyful Ceremonies, First Iraqi Province Proudly Assumes Local Control

di Paul von Zielbauer

SAMAWA, Iraq — Parading troops, rifle-carrying tribesmen and a rather enthusiastic karate demonstration were the main attractions at a ceremony on Thursday returning control over Muthanna Province to local Iraqi government and security forces.

Perhaps the most indelible aspect of the three-hour event at a battered old stadium here in the provincial capital was the pride beaming from hundreds of faces.

For the first time since coalition armies invaded Iraq in 2003, the people of Muthanna, a spare southern desert province that borders Saudi Arabia, are fully in control of their lives, affairs and future.

If the communal delight helped distinguish the three-hour commemoration from the usual drone of congratulatory government speeches, so also did the hitches, surprise appearances and impromptu celebrations that showed just how unscripted Iraqi officialdom can be.

At 9 a.m., soldiers, residents and reporters were awaiting the ceremony when Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki strode onto the red rubber running track. Well-wishers quickly mobbed him, to the clear displeasure of 16 armed and tense-looking security agents, who brushed back the crowd.

A few minutes later, about two dozen tribesmen in ankle-length robes and kaffiyehs jogged into the far end of the stadium, each holding a 1940’s-era bolt-action rifle overhead. They passed Mr. Maliki, seated at the edge of the track, chanting in unison, “Congratulations, we came to visit you and give congratulations!”

Mr. Maliki eventually strode to a podium arrayed with plastic flowers and praised Muthanna’s people for being the first among the residents of the 18 provinces of Iraq to reclaim independence from coalition forces.

The sound system garbled the prime minister’s words for several minutes at a time, as it did with all the other dignitaries who spoke.

The organizers eventually determined that the sheer quantity of hardware in the arena— machine guns, bulletproof vests and ammunition clips that most Iraqi men were carrying— was causing the problem and moved everyone back.

“This is the type of country we want to live in,” Mr. Maliki said in one stretch the microphone captured clearly. “All tribes, security forces, government officials, working together toward the security of Iraq.”

After the speeches, members of an Iraqi karate team, trained by noncombat Japanese troops stationed here, demonstrated their skills, breaking wood poles over one another’s limbs and disarming some team members acting as bandits with karate moves.

The crowd, circled tightly around the demonstration, applauded enthusiastically.

A pleased-looking Mr. Maliki, sweltering in a business suit in 100-degree heat, remained seated under a plastic tent for most of the events of the day as security forces paraded past.

Before they left, however, the local tribesmen, whose traditions and bonds create the fabric of provincial life here, strode to governor of the province, Muhammad al-Hassani, and rallied in a circle, holding aloft their English carbines and Turkish Mausers. “Muhammad is a good man!” they chanted in unison. “Everyone is talking about him!”

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