Leaving Anbar?

Well - so US forces are leaving Anbar. Of course that does not mean they are leaving Anbar. The vast US marine Camp Fallujah will remain. The embeded PRT goys who negotiate with the tribes will remain. Is it a mere symbolic handover? In a sense yes. But it is an indication that things have progressed dramatically. Unconcievable two years ago. Strategically Iraq is a success. Will the Iraq Army patrol the streets of Fallujah? Of course not. It would be more than their lives are worth. That will be left to the newly established "Neighborhood Watch" teams of local militia. Fallujah is a city state now. But still it is peaceful, it is progress, and Anbar is quiet thank God. But the word Anbar means "Arsenal" - and boy what an arsenal. Awash wish weapons. So nobody should take anything forgranted.

Iraqi forces yesterday 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.