Anbar mission may end in March

Washington Times:

U.S. and Iraqi forces have nearly "cleared" the western Iraqi province of Anbar and Baghdad of al Qaeda terrorists and other insurgent groups, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.

Mr. Gates stopped short of announcing when control of Anbar would be returned to Iraqi forces during a press conference at the Pentagon, but the Associated Press reported yesterday that Marine Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin said the transfer would be ready by March, adding that violence there dropped significantly.

Under a plan accepted by the Iraqi government, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is the commander of the multinational force in Iraq, the transfer will occur in March, followed by a ceremony in April, Gen. Gaskin told the AP.

Anbar had been considered a stronghold of al Qaeda and was where much of the Sunni Arab insurgency occurred during the first years of the war.

During yesterday's press conference, Mr. Gates said that in the past year "Iraqi security forces have grown in capability, confidence and size, expanding by more than a 100,000."

The most recent province to be put back under Iraqi control was Basra, which reverted in December. So far nine of the nation's 18 provinces are under Iraqi security forces.

Mr. Gates said he "expects this transfer [of provinces] to continue" in the future.

The continuing gains in securing the region "are on track to carry out the reductions that General Petraeus talked about and that the president approved last September" in regard to U.S. troops, Mr. Gates said.

...

The March date will probably coincide with Gen. Petraeus' next report to Congress on the progress in Iraq. It would mark a spectacular turn around for Anbar province and a clear strategic defeat for al Qaeda. At one time al Qaeda proclaimed Ramadi its capital in Iraq, now the locals, with the help of the US have chased them out of the province. The Marines assigned to the area have worked themselves out of a job there.