U.S. Returns Control Of Anbar To Iraqis

But Officials Warn Fight Against Insurgents Not Over In Once Brutally Violent Region

(AP)  The U.S. military handed over control of once brutally violent Anbar province to Iraqi forces Monday - marking a major milestone in America's plan to eventually send its troops home.

But American officials warned that the struggle against al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgents was not over in the western region, the scene of some of the bloodiest battles in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

"This war is not quite over, but it's being won and primarily by the people of Anbar. Al Qaeda has not been entirely defeated in Anbar, but their end is near and they know it," said Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top U.S. commander in Anbar, during the handover ceremony.

The return of security control to Iraqi authorities doesn't mean U.S. troops, who number about 25,000 in the region, will leave Anbar. The vast, mostly desert region extends from the western outskirts of Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

But U.S. troops will cut back on security patrols and focus on training Iraq's army and police.

President Bush hailed the turnover as a major achievement, saying the region had been "transformed and reclaimed by the Iraqi people."

"Iraqi forces will now take the lead in security operations in Anbar, with American troops moving into an overwatch role," Bush said in a statement.

For years, Anbar, the 11th of 18 provinces to switch to Iraqi control, was the center of the Sunni insurgency. The city of Fallujah became the symbol of Sunni resistance until it fell to American troops in November 2004 in the most intense urban combat of the war.

The province was the base of the shadowy al Qaeda in Iraq and its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who used the area as a staging ground for attacks in Baghdad until he was killed in a 2006 U.S. airstrike.

Just two years ago, a Marine intelligence report concluded that al Qaeda had made such inroads that the war was "lost" in Anbar.

But later that year, some in the region's Sunni Arab community mounted a backlash against al Qaeda in Iraq. Many Iraqi tribal leaders opposed al Qaeda's brutal tactics, including mass killings of Shiite civilians and of some Sunni leaders who refused to accept al Qaeda's rule.

The disaffected Sunni sheiks organized so-called awakening councils that joined forces with U.S. troops to push al Qaeda from the province. That enabled U.S. forces to gain control of the provincial capital of Ramadi and other cities long considered killing zones.

Now Anbar is considered one of the quieter parts of Iraq. Yet bitterness remains between the awakening councils and the central Baghdad government, predominantly Shiite.

That could complicate broader political reconciliation efforts on the national level.

During Monday's ceremony, for example, the head of the local awakening council complained that the central government was not giving Sunni tribesmen enough credit for fighting al Qaeda, and placing too much attention on their past ties to Saddam Hussein.

Monday's ceremony had been postponed several times in recent months, with delays blamed on weather and a last-minute disagreement between the governor and the central government over control of security forces.

But security concerns also played a role. As recently as late June, a suicide bomber wearing a police uniform killed more than 20 people, including three Marines and several prominent pro-U.S. tribal leaders, in the town of Karmah, 20 miles west of Baghdad.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, a senior aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraq has submitted a list of proposals to tweak a draft of a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement.

The changes were submitted to the U.S. government in Baghdad, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to release the information.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have said the two sides agreed tentatively to a schedule that included a broad pullout of U.S. forces by the end of 2011. But al-Maliki has suggested that his government is still not satisfied with that arrangement.

[motown67usa]

The AP story does a good job mentioning the internal Sunni disputes that are on-going within Anbar. The Awakening movement and the Islamic Party that run the province have been at loggerheads for months. The Awakening wants to take over, and is expected too, but provincial elections have been delayed, probably until 2009. That''s just enough time for this to boil and boil and boil. For more see: http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/

[dmgenet]

Good, Bush and his belated (6 yrs.) tactics continue to clean up the mess he made for no reason other than oedipal. As any kindergartner knows when you make a mess you need to clean it up.

[petro49l]

Iraq belongs to Iraqis. Sunnis can easily deal with Al Qada Syria-Iraq-Iran. The Coalition should concentrate on Bin Laden and his Al Qada clique. Why allow Osama harvest vast quantities of exotic poppies for his tar heroin isomizers? He is flooding the world with his narcotics. Bin Laden uses his drug receipts for investing in corporate stocks and bonds. He has the money to do anything.

[lochlan-2009]

When do Haliburton and subsidiaries leave?

[kesac4650]

Tell Al Queda not to lose Hope. Obama is still promising to pull out and leave them in possession of the country.

[sistatee-2009]

Yea, I''''m sure the Anbar province will enjoy many years of peace and prosperity!
Posted by hotpaulie at 11:07 PM : Sep 01, 2008

And billions in American aid.

[vechible]

'' .. little girls are odd creatures, the moon can fall from the sky: and they do not even blink .. but lay one upon a stack of 20 cushions and it knows if there''s some poor microbe or molecule underneathe the stack suffering even some miniscule amound of pressure and she is there by it''s side to aide .. ''

[missingamerica]

Hey, all you neoconish Republicans crowing about "progress" in Iraq - remember these statements?

Rumsfeld, 2/7/2003: "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

D. Cheney, 3/16/2003: "I think it will go relatively quickly,...(in) weeks rather than months"

And still, five years later...

Good old Republicans...the only people they happily accept lying from is themselves.

[vechible]

'' .. at first i thought the mortality & suffering was an oversight or error, the more i thot about it the more it seemed deliberated, i probably didn''t get something from nothing; so, i''m probably not some magic speck erupted in some endless oblivion, if there''s forever, though, & most folk most time bide themselfs making others wishes true; then, rationally, i must of wished not to have all my wishes true, strangely: i''m not sure there''s any substantial likelyness i can actually cause such a wish to stay any substantial course .. so one way or some other: some abnormalitys occur i suppose, things don''t always go eternitys way, just usually .. ''

'' .. they''ve got little kids & old people offering free food at all the trail crossings, free medicine, free sexxx toys, free gravity driven sponge bus rides, & they''ve all but got infinite divergence with infinite wishes come true forever, there''s nothing special else i''ve to offer .. ''

[whitemale08]

What is this? like the 5th time they''ve handed Anbar province to the so-called Iraqi troops.

When are you guys going to admit that the so-called "Iraqi troops" are just "payed-off" mercenaries.

As soon as the money stops, so does the peace. that''s because they''re not recognized by anyone in Iraq. Neither is their so-called "Prime Minister".

No matter how many times you guys like to repeat his full name he is still not recognized by the majority of Iraqis which is why he has limited movement outside the "Green Zone".

The final outcome of this whole fiasco is the "break-up into 3 parts" so that Malaki can continue to run the Green Zone, and the Kurds will be eventually absorbed by Turki and the Shiites by the Iranians.

That''s Biden''s plan and it''sthe objective of the PNAC groups and the Bzversinskis, and Kissingers to balkanize the Middle East even further then the British started after WWI.

Now all that''s missing is for the Republicans to admit failure and the Democrats take credit for the final plan of the middle-east.

[hotpaulie]

Yea, I''m sure the Anbar province will enjoy many years of peace and prosperity!

[vechible]

'' .. i threw the keys to my non-sponge bus to my six year old, and he drove it with deliberation into a crowd of pedestrians just to giggle at the sight of all the blood like he saw in a cartoon, then i threw him the keys to my nuclear rocket and he left it almost absolutely to it''s own devices and followed it around like some hallowed baby, praying all sleepless night and sleepless day it did nothing to hurt itself or someone else .. ''

'' .. if kids and elderly take over all the pages and stations audio and or video, i''ll throw myself off a broadcast tower and never come back .. ''

[tapsettle]

Radical Judaism???...radical jewish terrorism???...certainly you are joking...

And who then are in those West Bank settlements?
----
Posted by Nancy_Naive

Sorry Nancy, you are being naive. Israel is seen by many other cultures, increasingly also many in the west, as state sponsors of terrorism. Dont forget how Israel secured much of the land they currently occupy. The US are effectively demanding Russia does not do the same in Georgia. Up until now, the US was seen as diplomatically supporting the ''terrorist'' state of Israel. Unfortunately under Bush it has shown it''s hand to be much more supportive than that.

[tapsettle]

Another success story from the Iraq War front. Totally damanging to defeatest liberals.
----
Posted by StopSocialis

The US are keeping 25,000 troops in the province. How is that in ANY WAY handing power back to the Iraqis, except maybe in news headlines for election purposes?

[vranger]

Yet another substantial event showing that the surge worked.

McCain was right.

Obama was wrong ...

yet again ...

[guadalcanal3]

dafras....Radical Judaism???...radical jewish terrorism???...certainly you are joking...I would say that the Arabs have been embarrassed...and very dangerous to the whole world...ever since they were bamboozeled into believing that ''war loving'' Mohammed was a peaceful prophet....numerous beheadings are his legacy.