U.S. hands over biggest base to Iraq

Camp Victory, the largest U.S. military base in Iraq, was handed over to the Iraqi military on Friday, marking the end of an era which saw the base serve as the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq. The handover came as the Dec. 31 U.S. troop withdrawal deadline is drawing close and after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pledged for the full pullout on his surprise visit here starting from Tuesday. "The Victory Base Complex (Camp Victory) was officially signed over to the receivership of the Iraqi government this morning," said Colonel Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman. "The base is no longer under the U.S. control and is now under the full authority of the government of Iraq," said the spokesman. No handover ceremony was held other than a brief signing meeting between the two sides. Analysts believe that the low-profile handover was much due to security concern, as Baghdad is still witnessing deadly terror attacks almost on daily basis. Camp Victory, a huge compound near Baghdad International Airport, has accommodated the U.S. war operations center and hosted the captive former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein before his 2006 execution. The slain former Iraqi president built the chain of palaces, villas and a complex of lakes within the camp, to mark his " victory" over the United States after the 1990-1991 Gulf War, in which U.S. forces drove Iraq out of Kuwait, and the "victory" over neighboring Iran in the 1980s. After his capture, Saddam Hussein was put in custody at a villa on an island within the complex. The U.S. troops interrogated the former president until he was handed over to Iraqi authorities and executed in 2006. The base, a site featured with a 42-km blast wall and razor wire, has been the U.S. command center for the Iraqi war since it entered the capital city of Baghdad in April 2003. The camp, in the past, had housed over 40,000 military personnel. Top U.S. war commanders including Ricardo Sanchez, David Petraeus and the current Lloyd Austin, lived at one of Saddam's villas on the base, a 20-room, 25,000-square-foot mansion. The handover of Camp Victory, to many local analysts, marks a major milestone in the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as Washington managed to maintain its presence in Baghdad at its embassy on the bank of Tigris River in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone. Only 12,000 U.S. troops remain, down from a peak of around 170, 000 at the height of the war. All of the remaining forces are due to leave Iraq by the end of this year, except for fewer than 200 to serve as trainers under the command of the U.S. embassy.