General: Anbar ready for handover

AP ^ | 10 Jan 08 | ROBERT BURNS

[elhombrelibre]

WASHINGTON - Iraq's western province of Anbar, origin of the Sunni Arab insurgency that arose in the early months of U.S. occupation, will be returned to Iraqi control in March, a senior U.S. general said Thursday.

Thus far, nine of 18 Iraqi provinces have reverted to Iraqi control, most recently the southern province of Basra in December. The process has gone substantially slower than the Bush administration once hoped, mainly because of obstacles to developing sufficient Iraqi police and army forces.

Marine Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin, commander of the roughly 35,000 Marine and Army forces in Anbar, said levels of violence have dropped so significantly — coupled with the growth and development of Iraqi security forces in the province — that Anbar is ready to be handed back to the Iraqis.

He said in a telephone interview that a provincial security committee under Anbar's governor has been established and has rehearsed procedures for handling any security crisis that might develop.

Under a plan accepted by the Iraqi government as well as the top two American authorities in Iraq — Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus — the U.S. military will transfer control of Anbar to provincial authorities in March, followed by a ceremony in April, Gaskin said.

"We all agree that, based on the requirements, Anbar will be ready by that time," Gaskin said, speaking from his Multi-National Force West headquarters in Fallujah, about 25 west of Baghdad.

As recently as 18 months ago Anbar was the central stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq, the shadowy insurgent group that U.S. officials say is largely led by foreign terrorists but populated mainly by Iraqis.

What recently has developed into a broadbased backlash against al-Qaida among Iraq's Sunni Arab community began in Anbar in late 2006. Americans recruited Sunni sheiks to help oust al-Qaida from their home turf, and the movement spread to former militants who once fought U.S. and Iraqi soldiers.

Gaskin, who is scheduled to return to his home base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in February when he is replaced by Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly from Camp Pendleton, Calif., arrived in Anbar in February 2007. That was a turning point in the security situation in the provincial capital of Ramadi. The city is now largely pacified — a state of affairs that few would have predicted a year ago.

Referring to the decision to return all of Anbar to Iraqi provincial control in March, Gaskin, recalling the unsettled situation he faced when first arriving, said, "I didn't expect it to happen so fast."

[elhombrelibre]

Progress in Iraq ping.

And they said it couldn't be done.

[r9etb]

Stick that up your rancid ass, Harry Reid.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

Province by Province. This will coincide with Petraeus testimony to Congress. Wonder what the Dems. are going to say then.

[jveritas]

Amazing indeed.

God bless our troops and President Bush.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Quagmire.

[frogjerk]

And they said it couldn't be done.

OBAMA: "They said... they said... they said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, to disillusioned to come together around one common purpose..."

Maybe this is what Obama was talking about because I sure couldn't tell...

[SF Republican]

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi should be invited to the ceremony by the military in a very public manner.

[DoughtyOne]

Thus far, nine of 18 Iraqi provinces have reverted to Iraqi control, most recently the southern province of Basra in December.

I'm so glad to see our troops' efforts paying off. Way to go folks.

[Allegra]

And they said it couldn't be done.

And oh, how it is being done! :)

[Whit]

Bush’s fault.

[elhombrelibre]

Hi, Allegra, must be a bittersweet thing to be back “home” in Iraq. Take care and stay safe.

[freedomlover]

Man this is old news. The DBMedia has been running this story in the ground all day, and I am getting sick of wall to wall positive news in Iraq.

I don’t know why I bother with Free Republic.

/s

[elhombrelibre]

That’s for sure. We can be very proud of our service members, their families, our coalition partners, the Iraqi Sheiks who turned on al Qaeda, and the leadership of our military.

[elhombrelibre]

They will say that Iraq has not made the perfect transition to a perfect Utopian democracy. Hence, it’s all a failure and we’d have been better off to have turned Iraq over to al Qaeda and Iran as they were willing to do just 5 months ago.

[elhombrelibre]

There were many doubting Thomases. That’s for sure.

[elhombrelibre]

Well, anyone’s guess is as good as the next’s.

[elhombrelibre]

Indeed.

[elhombrelibre]

We can be damned proud of the men and women who have made this possible despite the disdain of the Democrats and Hollyweird.

[elhombrelibre]

Quit it, man, you’re killin’ me.