Marines to turn over Fallujah next month

[unhappycamper]

Marines to turn over Fallujah next month
By Bryan Mitchell - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 28, 2008 7:33:15 EDT

Following up on the successful security handover Sept. 1 in Iraq’s Anbar province, the Corps plans to turn over its Fallujah base camp to Iraqi forces next month, further softening its stance across the region, said Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the Corps’ top officer in Iraq.

Iraqi troops are slated to take control of Camp Fallujah in mid-November, Kelly said during a news conference Thursday. The roughly 6,000-acre camp has served as the Corps’ logistical hub in Anbar.

Fallujah became synonymous with rampant and uncontrollable violence in the early days of the Iraq war, following several high-profile incidents in the city.

The brutal April 2004 slayings of four Blackwater USA contractors, as well as two bloody battles to control the city that same year, remain definitive events in the Iraq timeline. The second Fallujah battle, in November 2004, ranks among the most vicious fights in Marine history.

Kelly said Marines staged at Camp Fallujah are relocating across Anbar and other parts of Iraq. He said plans are underway for Marines to hand over Camp Ramadi early next year.


Article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/10/marine_fallujah_102708w/%2e