3 Dec. New York Times and Washington Post:

NYT - U.S. Goals for Iraqi Forces Meet Success and Challenges in Najaf.

Najaf and the surrounding region lie at the forefront of the Bush administration's plans to turn over security operations to Iraqi forces, earning a mention in the president's speech at the United States Naval Academy on Wednesday. By many measures, the thousands of Iraqi police officers and soldiers here have done well. They have prevented the devastating suicide bombings that have plagued Baghdad and other areas of Iraq. Attacks against Americans are rare, and American troops are steadily lowering their profile.

But even here, in the southern Shiite heartland that is largely free of sectarian tensions, the American enterprise still faces steep hurdles, ones that are more subtle but no less subversive than the Sunni-led insurgency.

Many of those blue-uniformed police officers are members of Shiite militias, including Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army, which battled American troops here last year. Political rivalries occasionally erupt into violence, as when the Mahdi Army clashed with another militia in August. Corruption and kidnappings remain a problem, officials say, as does politically motivated crime...
WP - Leaving Najaf, One Step at a Time.

To find the U.S. troops responsible for security in this southern Iraqi city, leave Najaf, head for the desert and drive for 40 minutes. The troops are out there at an isolated base, while Iraqi policemen and soldiers patrol the city.

Najaf is touted by the U.S. military here as a potential model for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq: Get the American soldiers off the streets and pull them back to bases outside the cities until things are quiet enough for them to leave for good...