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SAN DIEGO — The drawdown of Marines from the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar will take time because there is still much work to be done, a top U.S. commander said Sunday on the eve of the province’s transfer to Iraqi security control.
Today’s handover of Anbar, scene of some of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq war, marks a milestone in America’s strategy of turning security responsibility over to the Iraqis so that U.S. troops can eventually go home.
“The Marine force will be smaller soon,” Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly told The Associated Press Sunday from Iraq. “I don’t think it will be overnight. I think it will happen incrementally.”
