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BAGHDAD - The news caught everyone by surprise. But for once in Iraq, it was pleasant news.
Across this blazing metropolis, almost anyone who stopped to speak Monday said the end of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and the handover of powers to the new interim Iraqi government two days ahead of schedule was a step forward for this spent, bloodied and exhausted country.
And while few were waxing lyrical about their new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, and his colleagues, or expected things to improve overnight, many were willing to give the new team the benefit of the doubt. Some said that insurgents should take a hiatus to allow the government to work.
Some people tooted horns, and there were some scattered bursts of celebratory gunfire, but mostly the news of the secretive handoff cascaded slowly through the population - reported on satellite television only after it happened and then passed on by word of mouth.
Iraqis know that much power still will reside in the vast U.S. Embassy mission led by Ambassador John D. Negroponte, who flew in just hours after outgoing U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III left the country, and with the 160,000 foreign troops under U.S. command.
But even with those caveats, "it is a good step forward," said retired military engineer Abed Jabbar Latif, as he walked along a dirt footpath with his grandson. "It is the first step, God willing, toward rebuilding a new Iraqi democracy as an independent state, and I feel good now because I can see a light at the end of the dark road."
There were similar comments elsewhere around Baghdad. Ex-military officer Qasim Mohammed, 43, said he wished to thank the United States, and especially Bremer, for ousting Hussein.
"This day shows the true good intentions of the U.S.," he said. "It seems we are moving forward to democracy."
At the Iraqi Communist Party headquarters off Andalus Square in central Baghdad, about 30 people made a festive racket with snare drums and trumpets, as passing cars honked and drivers waved. It felt as though the national soccer team had won a match.
"The Iraqi Communist Party congratulates the Iraqi people on the end of the Occupation Authority and the return of sovereignty," read a red banner hung facing the street.
Lifelong party member Mudhar Ghanim, 46, said the new government's first priority should be to restore security. Democracy can come later, he said: "We've lived 35 years under a dictatorship. You can't create democracy overnight."
In the southern holy city of Najaf, where the most powerful Shiite clerics in Iraq reside, people wondered what changes the transfer would really bring.
"I don't see the handover as an important thing," said Radi Aziz Hassan, 36, a teacher. "The most important thing is whether this government will change our tragic situation. Is the occupation truly finished? All these are claims that need to be discussed."
Ahmed Ali, a 28-year-old biologist who sells nuts in the upscale Mansour neighborhood, said it was wrong for the United States to attack Iraq unilaterally, and he remains irritated by the sight of American troops still patrolling in his area.
But even he seemed willing to some extent to wait and see. "I'll give them three or four months to show their true intentions," he said.
Quotes"There will be great security problems as a result of the U.S. presence, and problems created by the Americans themselves. The government can make it if it adheres to its programs and ends the presence of the U.S. and other troops." - Senior Syrian Information Ministry official Ahmad Haj Ali
"I personally think that once the Iraqis feel that they are their own masters, and they have a government that has power, then this will make the restoration of stability easier." - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher
"I warn the forces of terror once again. We will not forget who stood with us and against us in this crisis." - Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi