Of emotion and existentialism: questioning sovereignty during genocide

In late June 2004, the occupying US force in Iraq “handed over” sovereignty to the newly installed Iraqi Governing Council, leaving me forever contemplative about the concept of sovereignty. What is this tangible form of sovereignty that can be handed over by an occupying force? What does it mean to hand it over after invading and committing crimes in a country once deemed sovereign, despite the violation of its people’s fundamental rights by both national and international bodies? What does it mean to maintain interventionism in a country to whom one has “handed over” sovereignty? Similar questions troubled me recently in light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.