US hope turning over Iraq security in a year
Friday, April 18, 2008 08:32 GMT
US Military in Baghdad hopes to turn over security responsibility in most Iraqi cities to Iraqi forces in about a year, the chief of staff of the American military in the capital, Colonel Allen Batschelet said. He evoked a smaller role for the US military in Baghdad after the next US president takes over from George W. Bush in January.
In an interview with Reuters, Batschelet expected the Iraqi security forces to be able to attain a level of sustainable security in much of Baghdad by early spring knowing that security control in half of Iraq’s provinces has been transferred to Iraqi authorities, mainly in the south and the north, while Baghdad, holding in a quarter of Iraq’s population, is expected to be one of the last. The US division responsible for Baghdad includes now a quarter of US combat divisions in the country while it was the main focus of last year’s US Forces surge in Iraq.
According to last year’s strategy, US forces have withdrawn from large bases and moved into 23 small Combat Outposts and 52 Joint Security Stations alongside Iraqi police and army units. He confirmed that 15 more such outposts will be opened over the next six months. As neighborhoods are handed over to Iraqi control, US forces will maintain a presence at those stations in the more volatile parts of the city, he added.
“We hope to assist the provincial and local leadership and Iraqi security forces in bringing the same stability and security to parts of eastern Baghdad,” Batschelet said.
