Security responsibilites turnover.

Here is a media report, the first on this topic of which I am aware, on the possible turnover of primary security responsibilities to the Provincial authorities, what we refer to as PIC (Provincial Iraqi Control).

Ministry says ready for Babel, Wassit handover
Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Wednesday , 10 /09 /2008 Time 10:04:27

The Iraqi minister of defense, Abdelqadir Al-Ubeidi, on Wednesday said that Iraqi forces are preparing to take over full security responsibilities in the provinces of Babel and Wassit.

"Security forces continue their preparations to take on security responsibilities in Babel and Wassit from the Multi-National Force (MNF)," the minister said during a Baghdad-based press conference on Wednesday without giving any indication as to when such a handover could take place.

Anbar was the 11th and the latest Iraqi province where security responsibilities have been passed on to the Iraqi authorities.
Wassit, 180 km south of Baghdad, is in the east of the country. As it lies along the Tigris about midway between Baghdad and Basra.Prior to 1976 it was known as Kut Province.

Babel, 100 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an area of 6,468 square kilometers (2,497.3 sq mi), with an estimated population of 1,385,783 people in 2003. The provincial capital is the town of al-Hillah.