Iraq's western province of Anbar, origin of the Sunni Arab insurgency that arose in the early months of the U.S. occupation, will be returned to Iraqi control in March, a senior U.S. general, inverviewed by The Associated Press, said Thursday. Thus far, nine of Iraq's provinces have reverted to Iraqi control, most recently the southern province of Basra in December. The process has gone substantially slower than the Bush administration once hoped, mainly because of obstacles to developing sufficient Iraqi police and army forces. Marine Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin, commander of the roughly 35,000 U.S. Marine and Army forces in Anbar, said levels of violence have dropped so significantly that, coupled with growth and development of Iraqi security forces in the province, Anbar is ready to be handed back to the Iraqis. He said in a telephone interview that a provincial security committee under Anbar's governor has been established and has rehearsed procedures for handling any security crisis that might develop. Under a plan accepted by the Iraqi government as well as the top two American authorities in Iraq, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military will transfer control of Anbar to provincial authorities in March, followed by a ceremony in April, Gaskin said.
