Letters and e-mails to the BBC from around the globe:
Please keep your democracy. We Iraqis have no need for these lofty notions of "freedom" and "power". All we want is water, food and a job. You have failed to give us even these basic necessities. If you can't deliver, let us do it ourselves and take the puppets with you.
Sayeed Al-Awad, Iraq
Anil Mathai: I am very grateful that someone from the US knows just how we Iraqis feel. I suggest that you do ask the Iraqi people what we want - it is not Saddam but it is not what happened in our country. We know nothing of Democracy and it does not matter at all to any of us. I wish you all just left us alone.
Omar, Baghdad, Iraq
None of us here want democracy contrary to what people in the Western media portray. We would rather have basic necessities then the democracy that America is trying to impose on us.
M. Hussein, Iraq
Look, the Iraqis are more than capable of looking after themselves. In recent weeks we saw relative peace and calm in Falluja since an Iraqi force took control of the town. Chaos only resumed when the Americans started to interfere. The Americans don't want a stable Iraq since it will increase calls for the occupying force to leave.
Fuwaid Hussain, UK
The total chaos which will follow such a premature pull back, for US electoral reasons, will make the Afghanistan withdrawal look like a paragon of efficiency, especially in the light of the latest threats to murder the first prime minister.
Charles, S?o Paulo, Brazil
The insurgents aim to create conditions in which the Western Powers withdraw their forces before an effective Iraqi government is put in place. They will undermine efforts to create a credible Iraqi police and army. The interim Government will continue to depend for security on the occupation forces and will quickly come to be viewed as puppets by the population which will become increasingly radicalised. The interim authority will face prospect of holding elections that they will to lose to radical anti-western elements (Islamic or otherwise). My prediction is elections will be postponed indefinitely.
Alastair, Glasgow, Scotland
It seems yet another romanticized liberation deal, in the murky world of hideous agendas and hegemonic policies.
Ahmed Faraz, Pakistan
The interim government has enormous similarities to the Petain regime in Vichy France. A meaningless puppet regime that only exists because of the military power of its sponsor. There should have been a handover to a UN backed interim government and all US and UK forces should have withdrawn to be replaced by a UN force, ideally one with a large Arab contingent.
Carole, Bristol, UK
Americans are determined to wash their hands of another blunder they have made in this world, they have no care how many Iraqis, Afghans, or other people are killed in their struggle to capture all the world assets while giving back the burger, obesity, mind destructing moves, bad English language and corruption.
Pincer, Seoul
I don't know about handover, but I really feel bad about Iraqi people who are stuck between these two violent groups. Both trying to push there way of life on Iraqis.
Raj, India
The violence won't affect the handover because Bush and Blair are too proud and won't admit to the fact that the insurgents have an influence on the Iraqi people. The interim government won't have any power, after all they are just pawns in a game created by Bush.
If Bush really wanted to help Iraq, maybe he should address the people of Iraq, and ASK them what they want!
Alex, Toronto, Canada
The Iraq Handover will now make the Iraqi interim government speak on behalf of the American government. It is clear that the US will be the biggest policy maker in Iraq; whether through its biggest number of diplomats in a single country, or the 30,000 troops or so that will remain in Iraq's future US Military bases. Iraq is the most recent state added to the United States.
SR , Homs, Syria
Yes, it will make a difference. They were ruled by an Iraqi dictator earlier, now they will be ruled forever by an American president!!
Amit, Seattle, USA
Please do not insult our intelligence by suggesting that the June 30th "handover" is anything more than a formality and cheap PR ploy that will change very little on the ground in Iraq. US and British interests in the region are transparent and are part of a long-term strategy to control the vital sources and supply-lines of the life blood of the world capitalist economy. The role of the new Iraqi puppet government will be to attempt to "pacify" the resistance to the country's vassaldom. With rare exceptions, this US-managed strategy has largely worked in Latin America over the past century. It remains to be seen if it can succeed in a more complex context. Time, and the loss of far too many lives, will tell.
Robert, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This is not a real handover, it is a just a symbolic handover. The Iraqis will have no vote on security matters, nor will they have veto over the US military. What is more, I doubt that the Iraqis will have full autonomy to make business decisions about their oil assets.
Harmin, Colombia
The "handover", a truly arrogant gesture, will accomplish nothing other than an acceleration for the splitting of Iraq into different regions, perhaps even "republics". The members of the so-called Iraqi government are not known to the rest of the Iraqi people. The only thing that is being secured is the oil flow.
Aristides Garcia, Amsterdam, Holland
Machiavelli wrote that one who puts another into power is doomed, for that power is bestowed either by force or astuteness, neither of which is trusted by the one to whom power has been given. It has happened before many times with the US, in Iraq especially with Saddam Hussain. I doubt that it should be any different this time around.
Randall, Trinidad
It will make some difference presidential campaign. It will also make little difference in the oil exports. Since no one seems to care enough about Iraqis (even for keeping track of casualties for purely statistical reasons) that is all that matters.
Anastacia, Greece
No, the handover of sovereignty will not make much of a difference. It's a public relations ploy to save face. The atrocities and the killings will continue. The US and Britain have been successful only in getting rid of the old Baath party and Saddam. However, a new more cruel, repressive, and dictatorial Baathist regime is lying in wait and will eventually emerge. Democracy will not come to Iraq. This Western adventure in Iraq has been nothing more than a gigantic waste of US and British tax payers' money and a useless waste of human lives.
Johnny Franco Arboine, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Iraq will remain occupied. The "handover" will allow the oil and rebuilding contracts to be legitimised when they can be legally signed by an Iraqi sovereign state. Even an American appointed one.
Gerry Noble, Salisbury, UK
How can it make things better? The country is decimated by 12 years of sanctions, bombings and continued corrupt leadership! People in Iraq don't want hollow promises (like those made to Afghanistan) - they need help! Didn't the US claim they would rebuild Afghanistan too and it is still in the same boat as when they invaded - except there are 20,000 more civilians dead! You cannot impose a rule of law and occupy a country and then impose a bunch of stooges to run it. If the USA was serious about helping Iraq it would leave!
Yasmin, UK
The occupation of Iraq will continue after the 30th June with the Anglo-American forces still in control. The puppet government installed by the USA needs the US military presence to ensure its own survival and security. The Anglo-American global hegemony will continue to get consolidated.
Mohansingh, India
I will not call it a "handover" unless the invaders leave the country. Secondly, patriotic Iraqis will not listen to a prime minister who was installed by the invader(s).Thirdly, the violence will continue even after the invaders leave Iraq. Because I foresee a multifaceted civil war and power struggle among Saddam loyalist, Kurds, Shias and Sunnis. Invaders have to leave but they can't. It is a no-win situation for the US and its allies.
Abdul Wahid, Madras - India
The Iraqi resistance sees Alawi and his incoming government as puppets of the Americans, so how can the violence stop? What will happen eventually in Iraq is what happened in Vietnam, with the Americans fleeing and Alawi rushing to board their helicopter?
Reme Bursa, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Let us be honest. Bush and Blair's murderous thugs are the only terrorists in Iraq. The insurgents are freedom fighters trying to liberate their country from foreign occupation. As for the ridiculous drivel about liberation and freedom, Britain made the same promises to the Iraqis after WWI, yet betrayed them and occupied their country to plunder their resources. The US is just a replacement for the UK. Eisenhower said so.
Hanna, Arab in Canada
Now that the US has adopted the Israeli technique of randomly murdering civilians as "punishment" for "insurgent" attacks we can clearly expect rapid escalation of the violence. The US will rewrite the meaning of the word "sovereignty" to encompass US martial law. Handover? - You must be kidding!
Dr Frederick Hause, UK/Australia
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The proof is in the pudding.
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