The Meaning of Sovereignty

"If they have sovereignty, Mr. Ambassador, what does that mean?" Senator Hagel (R-NE) asked John Negroponte, the nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, regarding the U.S. military siege on Fallujah. Negroponte, who defended giving limited power to an interim Iraqi government after June 30, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee "he saw his major challenge as trying to avert conflicts if the new Iraqi government objected to American military actions." Another sovereignty question was raised yesterday when "Iraq's United States-appointed and unelected leaders had, overnight, abolished the old Iraqi flag" for a new one designed in London. Many Iraqis "are convinced that their new flag is modelled on the Israeli flag"; one political moderate said: "I will not regard the new flag as representing me but only traitors and collaborators."