When was the last time you read something like this in the paper or heard it on the TV? This is just another small sample of the improvements taking place on the ground in Iraq.

Word from Iraq: More local troops take lead
Iraqis’ ability to control own battle space improving


By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, February 15, 2006

ARLINGTON, Va. — Iraq’s combat troops are starting to step up to the line faster and faster in the fight against insurgents, with 43 out of 102 combat battalions now “controlling their own battle space,” according to Lt. Col. Michael Negard, spokesman for the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq.

That means that 40 percent of the country’s combat units are now taking a lead role against insurgents, a statistic first reported Tuesday by USA Today.

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