Se adelanta el traspaso de poder en Irak

Hoshyar Zebari

In a surprise announcement on Monday 28th June, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari revealed that the handover of sovereignty to Iraq was to be moved from Wednesday, to Monday itself.

This report from Andrew Marr in Istanbul:

The choreography wasn't perfect. Iraq's Foreign Minister, Mr Zebari let slip first thing this morning the news that it had been decided to bring forward the transfer of sovereignty to today.

A slightly startled-looking Tony Blair then told me we could expect an announcement later on. Diplomats talk of an event in Baghdad at around lunchtime, Mr Blair and George Bush are scheduled to do a joint press conference this afternoon. It's not hard therefore to work out how the day was meant to go.

In the end however perhaps the choreography doesn't matter as much as the story it's supposed to express. An impatient eager Iraqi administration telling America and Britain, "bring it on!" and having their wish quickly granted.

In practice of course, without elections and dependent on coalition forces to stay in power holding down insurgency and terrorism, the Baghdad government is still at best a work-in-progress.

Andrew Marr, Istanbul.

choreography
coreografía

let slip
reveló por casualidad

startled-looking
sorprendido, con cara de sorpresa

joint
compartida, en conjunto

work out
deducir, adivinar

bring it on
quien usa esta expresión quiere decir que está listo para un desafío

granted
concedido

holding down
controlando

insurgency
insurgencia

work-in-progress
un proyecto empezado pero no terminado