Once upon a time...

"Iraq is sovereign" -- ah yes...the greatest hits collection of this glorious clusterfuck of a war.

Meanwhile, just over three years later...

They also discussed ways to pressure Mr. Maliki’s government to provide millions of dollars in Iraqi funds — much of it oil money — to reconstruction of Anbar’s schools and health care centers and the reopening of state-run factories.

“This is all about finding ways to circumvent Maliki,” said one senior official who is involved in preparing Mr. Bush’s presentation of a new strategy, which will probably come in an address to the country after General Petraeus and the American ambassador to Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker, have presented their report to Congress starting on Sept. 10. “We can’t go to the Hill again and say Maliki will perform if we just give him the space. He won’t. So you find other means to accomplish the goal.”

But circumventing a central government that the United States itself set up is unlikely to prove easy. In the end, it is the new Iraqi government that has control of the country’s treasury, and determining when to hold elections around the country is a subject the Iraqi Parliament has not been able to agree upon.

Ah, the "GLORIOUS" Sunni rebirth in Anbar...where Sunni tribal leaders figured out if they "acted nicely" and killed foreigners and others they didn't like and called this "Al Qaeda" the Americans will dump all sorts of firearms upon them so they can be ready when the time comes to really start killing Shiites.

So the real meaning of "sovereignty" is that it means to Bush, as say, the Fourth Amendment.

Behold the glorious plan!