Iraqis to take charge of Green Zone in 2009

[unhappycamper]

Iraqis to take charge of Green Zone in 2009
By Andrea Stone - USA TODAY
Posted : Monday Dec 29, 2008 21:29:42 EST

BAGHDAD — When the calendar flips to 2009 on Thursday, Iraq’s government will gain control over the Green Zone and its own airspace and some jurisdiction over security contractors under the terms of a deal that will fundamentally change how the United States operates here.

The changes, outlined in a landmark security agreement the Bush administration signed in November, are part of the broadest transfer of responsibilities to Iraqi hands since 2004, when the government regained sovereignty from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

The most visible changes will take place in the Green Zone, the fortified section of Baghdad that has been the U.S. headquarters since the invasion in 2003.

Last week, Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, called it the Iraqi Security Zone. U.S. forces will continue to issue ID cards and act as advisers for months to come, but except for the sprawling U.S. Embassy complex along the Tigris River, the Iraqis “will be in charge” Jan. 1, Odierno said.

The changes represent ”a palpable shift in power,” said Daniel Serwer, former executive director of the Iraq Study Group, a panel appointed by Congress in 2006 to assess the situation here. “If the Americans had the bigger office on Dec. 31, they’ll have the smaller one on Jan. 1.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/gns_green_zone_122908/%2e