Anbar Province Ready To Be Handed Over To Iraqis

This is probably the best news to come out of Iraq since Saddam was hanged. This area was all but lost prior to the "surge". Which, by the way, celebrates its one year anniversary. Yes, people, the surge started one year ago, and look at the gains made in Iraq.

Iraq's western province of Anbar, hotbed of the Sunni Arab insurgency for the first four years of the war, will be returned to Iraqi control in March, a senior U.S. general said Thursday. In a telephone interview from Iraq, Marine Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin, commander of the roughly 35,000 Marine and Army forces in Anbar, said levels of violence have dropped so significantly—coupled with the growth and development of Iraqi security forces in the province—that Anbar is ready to be handed back to the Iraqis. Thus far, nine of 18 Iraqi 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. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that he expects the process to continue. Gates also said he was encouraged by security gains achieved in Anbar and Baghdad in the year since President Bush ordered an extra 30,000 U.S. troops to those areas of Iraq in what became known as a "surge." Gates said it has created new promise for long-delayed political reconciliation.

Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates is now pondering the thought of a "surge" in Afghanistan. With the success the surge has brought to Iraq, I don't see why it would take much thought. It would be tough in the short run, but having to deploy less troops later would benefit everyone.