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Coalition Forces in first Iraq handover
British and Australian forces handed over security responsibility for relatively peaceful Muthanna province to Iraqi forces on Thursday in the first such transfer of an entire province.Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hailed the security transfer as an important step toward the goal of full Iraqi responsibility for all 18 provinces by the end of next year. "It is a great national day that will be registered in the history of Iraq. This step will bring happiness to all Iraqis," al-Maliki said during a handover ceremony in the provincial capital of Samawah. "Be sure that the terrorists want to destroy and foil the process of taking over the security issue and to hamper the political process and the national unity government." U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad welcomed the handover in a joint statement. "The handover represents a milestone in the successful development of Iraq's capability to govern and protect itself as a sovereign and democratic nation," they said. The international troops plan to maintain a presence nearby and be prepared to help the Iraqis if needed. That fits in with the overall U.S. strategy of having coalition forces hand over security control for specific regions and redeploy to larger bases -- where they can act in a support or reserve role. A final future stage would involve the drawdown of troops from those bases. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-07-14 |
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