WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. military hopes to turn half of Iraq's 18 provinces over to local control by the end of the year, a top official said Friday.
Brig. Gen. Kurt Cichowski, deputy chief of staff for strategy, plans and assessment for Multinational Forces in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters that Muthanna province in the southwest corner of the country is the first to be handed over in July. But provinces are assessed every month to see whether day-to-day operations can be handed over to governors and local security forces. Security is a major part of that equation.
"We're looking for about half of the provinces by the end of the year," Cichowski said, but declined to name those on the list.
He warned the transfer process may not be completed on the exact schedule he outlined, and cautioned that just because the first nine go in a single year does not mean the next nine will be transferred the following year. Baghdad, Diyala, Sala Ah Din and Anbar province as well as parts of Ninevah province experience the lion's share of the violence in Iraq, and pose a greater challenge to local authorities.
Cichowskki also declined to discuss whether the handover of nine provinces in 2006 would translate into major U.S. troop reductions. There are now some 120,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and more than 200,000 Iraqi security forces.
Cichowski also said just because coalition forces hand over control does not mean that the provinces can not recall them if security requires it. The process is laid out in three documents drawn up for the hand over.
"There is the potential for the prime minister to ask the Multinational Forces Iraq commander to help him with a situation that is ongoing in any given province," he said.
