RAMADI, Iraq, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iraq on Monday took
over security control of the western province of Anbar from U.S. troops, a
provincial security source said.
In a ceremony held in the provincial government
building in the provincial capital city Ramadi under tough security measures,
the U.S. military transferred the security file of the Sunni province to Iraqi
security forces.
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's National Security Advisor
announced the security transfer, saying "the Anbar province which once was one
of the hottest areas in Iraq is celebrating today the transfer of security
file."
Ma'moun al-Alwani, the governor of Anbar and the
commander of the U.S. troops in the province signed the agreement of the
handover during the televised ceremony.
A provincial security source said that the Iraqi
security forces intensified security measures, including imposing curfew during
the day ahead of the ceremony, which also included a parade for Iraqi security
forces.
The ceremony was planned to be held earlier in June,
but was postponed due to bad weather, including sandstorms, according to U.S.
military statement.
However, media reports said that the delay was
actually due to disputes between leading Sunni Islamic Party and local Awakening
council groups in the province, headed by Ahmed Abu Risha.
Anbar would be the 11th of Iraq's 18 provinces to
return to the control of Iraqi security forces. It would also be the first
Sunni-dominated province to be handed over by the coalition forces.
Anbar, the country's largest province, expanding from
Baghdad all the way west to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, has
been relatively calm since more than a year and a half ago after Sunni tribes
and anti-U.S. insurgent groups turn up against al-Qaida in Iraq network,
cooperating with the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces.
The other 10 Iraqi provinces handed over by U.S.
forces to date are Qadisiyah, Maysan, Muthanna, Basra, Dhi Qar, Najaf, Karbala,
and the three Kurdish provinces of Duhuk, Sulaimaniyah and Arbil.
BAGHDAD, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani said that the United States asked Iraq to keep its troops in the
war-torn country until 2015, but negotiations set 2011 as a dead line, website
of Talabani's party posted on Wednesday.
"It was an American proposal that its troops to stay
in Iraq to2015 while the Iraqi one suggested 2010, then we agreed on the date
2011," Talabani said in an interview with the al-Hurra television from
Washington late on Tuesday. Full story
BAGHDAD, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki demanded changes to some points of a draft deal on the status of U.S.
troops in Iraq beyond 2008, website of a local Iraqi television said on Monday.
"There are still some pending points that the
agreement would not be approved but for appropriate changes that would preserve
the complete sovereignty of Iraq," Maliki was quoted by the website of the
al-Furat satellite channel as saying. Full story
BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iraq and the U.S. negotiators
have reached a draft agreement on a proposed withdrawal timetable and other
issues on the U.S. military presence in Iraq beyond 2008, CNN reported
Friday.
Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud,
who is also Iraq's chief negotiator, told the channel that the U.S. troops would
completely pull out by the end of 2011. Full story
