BAGHDAD, Nov 26 (AFP) - US forces will soon hand over full security
responsibility to Iraqi forces in a number of towns and regions, a senior
Iraqi official said Saturday.

"Very, very soon, we will have an agreement signed by the prime minister to
hand over control of some cities" from US to Iraqi security forces, national
security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told AFP.

"I very much hope it will happen before the elections" to be held on
December 15.

The transfer of some regions to Iraqi forces will help weaken claims by
insurgents they are fighting US-led occupation forces, he said. "It will
undermine the claim by by the terrorists that they are working against
foreign troops."

US forces have already started handing over a number of bases to Iraqi
forces, most recently a complex of palaces built by ousted dictator Saddam
Hussein on the outskirts of his hometown of Tikrit.

Sound good.