Battle handover in the operational and demographic context

"The rate at which battlespace is being handed over to the Iraqis themselves is accelerating.

Here's a map depicting Iraqi areas of responsibility back in September:

And here's one depicting Iraqi areas of responsibility from last month:

Note the substantial expansion of Iraqi-controlled areas.

(Ok, you need at least three data points before you can establish an accelerating trend. But this is still good to see.)

A couple of points to contextualize the information:

Much of Iraq is an utter desert wasteland, particularly in the west. Once you pull a mile or two away from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the population density falls to almost nothing in many parts of the country.

The Iraqi areas of responsibility are largely population centers. Compare the green-shaded areas above with this 1993 map of population densities:"
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