British forces turn over province to Iraqis

Maysan was the fourth of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed over and the third by British-led troops. Britain has started drawing down its forces in the four southern provinces even as the U.S. increases its troop strength in Baghdad and elsewhere.

British officers say they are responding to a different set of problems than their American counterparts.

U.S. forces in Baghdad and neighboring provinces need the numbers to quell sectarian violence between Sunni Arab and Shiite Muslim fighters, a senior British officer said this week. The overwhelmingly Shiite south, however, presents a different challenge.

"Ninety percent of the violence down here is all against us," the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"You put more people on the ground, you are creating more targets."

Maj. Gen. Jonathan Shaw, the British commander of the Multi-National Division-South East, expressed confidence during the transfer that Iraqi police officers and soldiers would keep a lid on what has always been a turbulent province.

Anxious residents were not so sure. Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr and his Al Mahdi militia are rushing to fill the power vacuum, residents said, leading on at least one occasion to intense fighting with local police, whose upper echelons are dominated by the rival Shiite Badr Organization and its allied political party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.

"Our problem

In a sign of lingering security concerns, the date and venue of Wednesday's transfer were released only after the event.

The ceremony took place in a wind-swept military base on the southwestern outskirts of Amarah. Guests were flown in on military helicopters; British and Iraqi soldiers were positioned on every rooftop.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker canceled their plans to attend at the last minute without explanation.

Shaw and provincial Gov. Adil Maliki signed a memorandum of understanding and shook hands before a crowd of officials in suits and tribal leaders in flowing robes. Tents decorated with garlands of artificial flowers shielded guests from the sun. Soldiers, policemen, border officers and firemen, one of them wearing a shiny, metallic-colored suit, marched by.