1) The Iraqi government will not be able to impose martial law in Iraq. The US can.
2) The CPA has signed a contract with Anham Joint Venture to be Iraq's only source of arms for its military over the next two years. See link above.
3) US troops are immune from prosecution by the Iraqi government.
4) The Iraqi military will still be under US command. Ditto intelligence services. When asked by John Warner if "military decisions continue to reside indefinitely in the control of the American commander," General Richard Myers, the Charmain of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "Yes."
5) American rebuilding aid will be doled out and controlled by the Americans. (Same link as #4). The reconstruction aid approved for this year was $18.5 billion, and Juan Cole estimates the government's annual income at $20 billion, though I don't know what his source is for that.
6) The Iraqi government will run the police force "but in coordination with Centcom [the U.S. Central Command], because this is not a normal police situation." This according to Paul Wolfowitz.
7) Before getting the hell out of Dodge, Paul Bremer made a series of edicts that will stay in effect after the transition, as well as appointing Iraqis to high-level administrative positions. The decrees cover election, traffic, copyright, tax, business, and labor law among other things. (If you only click one link, let this be it)
Basically, the government that is in place now is just a placeholder assigned with carrying on the day-to-day administrative duties of the various ministries until elections in January. I'm not sure to what extent it can legislate, if it is allowed to legislate at all.
The US forces will still be there, as the most numerous and best armed security organization in Iraq. Mercenaries and contractors hired by the US will still be there. The people in charge of the interim government are from the same cliques that supplied members of the hand-picked IGC. Very little has changed in the actual balance of power in Iraq.
