Speaking at the former Governing Council building on the morning of June 28, 2004, Coalition Provisional Authority leader in Iraq L. Paul Bremer read a letter “formally transferring sovereignty to the Iraqi people and their government. It concluded, ‘We welcome Iraq’s steps to take its rightful place of equality and honor among the nations of the world.’ ”
– L. Paul Bremer with Malcolm McConnell, My Year in Iraq, Page 394