A US-backed Iraqi Governing Council held its inaugural meeting today, stressing the start of a new era by abolishing national holidays that honoured Saddam Hussein and creating a new one to mark his downfall.
The 25-member interim council has the ability to appoint ministers, approve the national budget and review laws, although ultimate authority remains with the occupying powers that have ruled Iraq since US-led forces toppled Saddam on April 9th.
"Saddam has been tossed into the rubbish bin of history and will not be coming back," said Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum, a Shi'ite cleric and council member, many of whose relatives were killed by Saddam's government.
"There are defining moments in history and today, for Iraq, is definitely one of them," Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations Special Representative for Iraq, told the council.
It remains to be seen whether ordinary Iraqis think the council can represent their interests, though it does roughly reflect Iraq's religious and ethnic composition, giving Shi'ite Muslims a majority in contrast to their position under Saddam.
Saddam and most members of his elite were Sunni Muslims who marginalised the traditionally under-privileged Shi'ites.
The new council is composed of 13 Shi'ites, five Sunni Arabs, five Kurds, an Assyrian Christian and a Turkmen. Three members are women and 16 have either returned from exile or were in an autonomous Kurdish area outside Saddam's control.
As the council met in a government building in Baghdad, the US military said it had launched "Operation Ivy Serpent" to prevent militants staging anti-American attacks on upcoming anniversaries linked to Iraqi nationalism and Saddam.
"Operation Ivy Serpent is a pre-emptive strike that aggressively focuses on non-compliant forces and former regime leaders," a military spokesman said.
US officers say they have intelligence that assailants are planning attacks to coincide with anniversaries including a July 14th coup in 1958 against a British-backed monarchy, Saddam assuming the presidency on July 16th, 1979, and a revolution staged by his Baath Party on July 17th, 1968.
In a sign of the instability lingering after Saddam was ousted, a senior Iraqi oil marketing official said Iraq was still in no position to discuss term contracts with customers because of lingering doubts over exports from oilfields.
Oil revenues are crucial to Iraq's drive to rebuild and attract investment after years of war and sanctions.
"Right now, we are not certain what the country can produce. We would like to pursue term contracts, but we are not in a position to discuss them," the official said.