This is excellent news. All of the hard work of the Coalition forces, Army, Marines and Iraqis have paid off. I am especially happy for the contractors over there that have assisted in that process. A large portion of my time in Iraq was spent in the Anbar Province, and some good men in the industry were killed there. All of the convoy operations and movements up and down those roads in the Anbar were certainly deadly and the industry definitely paid a price there. And for the sake of the dead, and for the living, I am proud to see this significant victory in Iraq. –Head Jundi
——————————————————————-
US hands over former Sunni rebel hotspot to Iraq
RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces on Monday took control of the Sunni Anbar province, once the most explosive battlefield in Iraq, from the US military, symbolising the growing security gains in the war-torn country.
The transfer ceremony at the governate building in the provincial capital of Ramadi marked the handover of the 11th of Iraq’s 18 provinces.
Anbar, once a flashpoint of anti-American insurgency and later an Al-Qaeda stronghold, is the first Sunni province to be returned to Baghdad’s Shiite-led government.
“I would like to announce that the (Anbar) transfer from the US to Iraqi forces is done,” said Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security advisor, at the handover ceremony.
US President George W. Bush said the transfer of Anbar was a defeat for Al-Qaeda.