In a surprise move the U.S. held a secret ceremony in Baghdad earlier today to mark the so-called handover of power to the new unelected government of Iraq. The handover was scheduled to take place on Wednesday June 30 but the US moved up the date with hopes that it would pre-empt further attacks by members of the Iraq resistance to coincide with the handover. The ceremony was attended by a handful of Iraqi and coalition officials including the head of the Coalition Provision Authority Paul Bremer and Iyad Allawi who was selected to be Iraq’s prime minister. Allawi is a former Baathist who has ties to the CIA and Saudi intelligence. Iraq’s newly selected president Ghazi Yawer was also present. Over the past week, scores of Iraqis have died in attacks that were apparently staged to disrupt the handover of power. President Bush was in Turkey at the NATO summit while Bremer presided over the ceremony. Bremet left the country on a US Air Force C-130 at about 12:30 p.m. Baghdad time shortly after the ceremony ended