Corps now responsible for security in Ramadi

[unhappycamper]

Corps now responsible for security in Ramadi
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Security responsibility for the once-volatile city of Ramadi has been handed over to a Marine unit for the first time in several years.

Late last week, the Army’s 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division handed over command of the region in Anbar province to the Marine Corps’ Regimental Combat Team 1.

“Ramadi has gone from being the most dangerous city in Iraq to the safest,” said Col. John Charlton, commander of the 1st Brigade.

The transformation began more than a year ago, when soldiers of the 1st Armored Division began pushing into smaller outposts within the city. Wide swaths of the city had been virtual no-go zones for U.S. troops in previous years; during the 2005 elections in Iraq, the city had one of the worst voter turnout rates in the country. The handover to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division took place in February 2007.

And, as U.S. forces recruited more police and Sunni tribes began aligning with the U.S. military against al-Qaida in Iraq groups, the city began to turn. Slightly more than a year ago, the area saw 30 to 35 attacks a day. March 31, 2007, was the first day in years without an attack recorded in the city, U.S. military officials said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53575