Goodnight, Anbar Province, and Good Luck
U.S. hands over former Iraqi insurgent flashpoint
By Tim Cocks Reuters Monday, September 1, 2008; 6:09 AM
RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - The U.S. military handed over Iraq's western Anbar province to Iraqi security forces on Monday, less than two years after the region was all but lost to a Sunni Arab insurgency.
"We are in the last ten yards of this terrible fight. The goal is very near," Major-General John Kelly, commander of U.S. forces in Anbar, told U.S., Iraqi and tribal officials gathered near Anbar's government headquarters.
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Left out of the news report is that General Kelly is a marine and we desperately need marines over a few countries to the north and east, out Afghanistan way. And so it is we are leaving the most volatile of the Iraqi provinces, ten yards short of a touchdown.
Third and goal, we have come away from the huddle with a strategic surprise-punt and tried to put a good face on it.
T…