STANDING UP SHI'ASTAN

Coalition forces hand over security of southern province to Iraqi (AP, 7/13/06)

British and Australian forces handed over security for the relatively peaceful southern province of Muthanna to Iraqi forces on Thursday in the first such transfer of an entire province. [...]

Al-Maliki announced last month that Iraqis were ready to take over security responsibilities in the predominantly Shiite desert province of about 550,000 people, located 230 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Coalition troops have said they would maintain a presence nearby and be prepared to help the Iraqis if needed.

That fits with the coalition's overall strategy: American and international forces hand over security for specific regions and redeploy to larger bases — where they can act in a support or reserve role. A final future stage would involve the drawdown of troops from those bases.