Iraq: U.S. Marines Leave Anbar
January 23, 2010
The U.S. Marine Corps wound up almost seven years in Iraq on Jan. 23 and formally handed over control of Sunni-dominated Anbar, the country’s largest province, to the Army, a move that signaled the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops in that country, the AP reported. U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered all but 50,000 troops out of Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010. According to a U.S.-Iraq security pact, those remaining troops will leave by the end of 2011.