NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — The U.S. Army handed over its base in Najaf yesterday, giving Iraqis full control of the city as a first step in transferring security across the country so multinational forces can begin to go home someday.
- Jess Cox
- A U.S. soldier looks at Iraqi troops marching during the handover ceremony in Najaf yesterday, which marked the transfer of the Najaf base to Iraqi control.
(AP Photo)
Lt. Col. James Oliver, the U.S. commander of Forward Operating Base Hotel, handed the ceremonial keys to the installation to the new Iraqi commander, Col. Saadi Salih al-Maliky. About 1,500 Iraqi soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 8th Division marched by.
Before the ceremony, the Iraqi soldiers, all Shiites, chanted “long live Sistani,” referring to top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and “Saddam is a coward.”
U.S. forces have relocated to another base farther outside the city so they would be available to assist in a major security crisis.
Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, is the holiest city in Iraq for Shiite Muslims and was the scene of heavy fighting last year between the U.S. Army and the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The fighting ended following a truce mediated by the city’s Shiite clerical hierarchy, which wields considerable power behind the scenes in the current Shiite-dominated national government.
The U.S.-led coalition plans to hand over control of other cities to the Iraqis, gradually reducing its security profile. If all goes according to plan, this would enable the United States and its international partners to begin drawing down their troops next year and focusing on the insurgency-ridden Sunni Arab areas to the north.
“This is indeed a very important day for the province of Najaf,” said Brig. Gen. Augustus L. Collins, commander of the 155th Brigade Combat Team.