"The enemy in the eastern portion of Iraq’s Anbar province has been neutralized, the coalition commander in the area said today.

Al-Qaida in Iraq still can launch occasional horrific attacks, but in Ramadi and Fallujah -- once strongholds of the terror group -- security is allowing the region to transfer to provincial Iraqi control, Marine Corps Col. Lewis Craparotta, the area’s coalition commander, told Pentagon reporters in a briefing via satellite from Camp Fallujah today.

Still, the colonel said, coalition and Iraqi forces must remain vigilant, as al-Qaida wants to come back into the area. “Both cities have historical significance to the insurgents,” he explained."