BAGHDAD: Wearing his trademark dark suit and combat boots, Paul Bremer stepped away from his job running Iraq on Monday as the United States ended a 14-month occupation.

As head of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, Bremer's powers were so great that UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi jested last month that he was effectively Iraq's dictator.

"We welcome Iraq's steps to take its rightful place with sovereignty and honour among the free nations of the world," Bremer said at a hastily arranged handover ceremony.

The handover, which was over before most Iraqis knew it was being held, took place two days earlier than expected, partly to forestall any guerrillas seeking to disrupt it.

Bremer was then whisked to the airport amid tight security to board a US Air Force C-130 transport plane. He had started work typically early at 6am and held a final meeting with about 25 senior CPA staff two hours later.

"He told them we were ahead of schedule and that at the request of the prime minister we were going to transfer sovereignty this morning," a senior coalition official said.

"He talked about the accomplishments of the coalition over the past year...He said he felt very strongly about this new government that Iraq was in very capable hands," he said.

Bremer's staff had given him a standing ovation and snapped pictures during the emotional parting, the official said. But many Iraqis were happy to see him go. "Bremer was just a little toy that George Bush sent to Iraq. The only thing he managed to do was disband the army, increase the scale of the insurgency and create more bloodshed and violence," said Mohammed Jassim, 46, a security guard.

Bremer doggedly projected confidence even when his efforts to rebuild Iraq took daily body blows from anti-US guerrillas and his political plans fractured on Shia opposition.

He arrived in Baghdad in May 2003, six weeks after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, to lead postwar efforts that had floundered under his predecessor, retired general Jay Garner.

Bremer, 62, applied energy and decisive leadership to running a civil administration in Iraq in the face of attacks by forces determined to make the country ungovernable. -Reuters