The historic “handover of sovereignty” in Iraq took place last June 28, 2004, two days ahead of schedule. What is in store now for the new sovereign Iraq under the grand “exit plan” of the Americans? How much will life change and how much will stay the same for the Iraqi’s. Herbert Docena examines the role private contractors are playing in defining the future of Iraq post-handover. As Docena’s article points out “these contractors are trying to make sure that that the US still gets what it went to war for before it recedes from the scene’. We see that the American hand extends to the creation of “legal, economic, political, and social institutions according to its own specifications in order to ensure that they will be conducive to US interests.”Herbert is an analyst with Focus o­n the Global South and researcher for the Baghdad-based International Iraq Occupation Watch Center. He has been closely following the occupation authorities' policies and he was in Iraq when the uprising broke out.

THE OTHER RECONSTRUCTION: How private contractors are transforming Iraq's state and civil societyBy Herbert Docena