IRAQ: Marines to turn over Anbar province to Iraqis but remain to advise

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After four years of effort, the Marines this week are set to turn security responsibility for once-violent Anbar province over to the Iraqi security forces.

But that does not mean the Marines are leaving the sprawling western province.

Marines will remain for the forseeable future, working with the Iraqi police and army, providing backup if insurgents attempt a counter-offensive to regain turf they once controlled.

The Marines, as well as Army units, have fought two major battles in Anbar (Fallouja, 2004) and innumerable smaller ones. According to the independent website www.icasualties.org, the U.S. has suffered 1,127 deaths in Anbar, second only to Baghdad, with 1,129.

Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in Iraq, said the insurgents have not been totally defeated in Anbar, but they have been ‘generally neutralized in the cities and disrupted in the towns and villages.’

‘They are restricted to the wilds of the desert and separated from the population they sought to oppress,’ Kelly said. ‘Increasingly they appear as criminal gangs who extort, murder, and steal to maintain relevance.’

Some observors are concerned that the Sunni sheiks, with whom the Marines have formed an alliance of convenience, will return to the vindictive ways of tribal justice, including torture and summary executions. Kelly disagrees and remains convinced that the sheiks will continue to support the security forces and the province’s reconstruction efforts.

— Tony Perry, in San Diego

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