The commander of the US army division taking over the security of Baghdad on Wednesday said its primary purpose was to push Iraq's security forces into the forefront of the increasingly complex, sectarian battle for the war-torn capital.
On Wednesday Baghdad bade farewell to the Fourth Infantry Division, under whose watch the conflict in Iraq blossomed from a simple insurgency against US forces into a sectarian dirty war.
Over the same period, support for the war in the United States has plummeted and military commanders are looking to get Iraqi forces to more aggressively shoulder the burden of security.
"We are going to work very, very hard and apply a lot of resources to helping Iraqi security forces to assume the lead quickly," said Major General Joseph Fil, commander of the First Cavalry Division that took over Baghdad in a ceremony on Wednesday.
"We expect to see significant advancement very quickly in that regard," he said, adding that for the most part they would follow the policies of their predecessors, while putting more emphasis on working with Iraqi security forces.
"The significant difference is we are going to significantly increase our contribution to that partnership," he told reporters in his first press conference.
While describing himself as "optimistic", he admitted that the current situation in Iraq, where dozens of people are being murdered daily in sectarian battles, and uniformed gunmen engage in mass kidnappings, has to change.
"I'll be honest, clearly we can't continue just to continue to continue," he said. "I think the Iraqi people expect some success in the next months and years, as do the American people."
Baghdad has long been recognised as the key to the stability of the entire country, but even with new security plan being announced, the situation only seems to be spiralling out of control.
The massive Operation Together Forward to secure the city, launched in June, stumbled almost immediately and required a "phase two" in August that featured a large infusion of US troops.
It was classic counter-insurgency strategy to "clear, hold and build" in the city by eliminating insurgents and then rebuilding the neighbourhoods.
Still, violence quickly returned to neighbourhoods pacified by US troops as Iraqi forces proved unequal to the task of maintaining security.
"The clear part has gone very well, the hold part has been more difficult, and the build part has been more difficult still," said Fil.
"I think frankly it's a matter of having sufficient Iraqi forces to actually hold after the clearing operation has been completed to get in there and establish the secure environment."
Instead, a whole National Police brigade had to be pulled out of the city for retraining when it turned out they were colluding with the militias.
US forces also found that they didn't have as many Iraqi army units as they thought when many refused to be transferred to Baghdad, and others were undermanned due to desertions and a liberal home leave policy.
Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli told AFP that the Iraqi army was going to be expanded by 30,000 troops to address the consistent shortfalls in manpower.
"The army will be better prepared to fulfil its mission if it's over 100 percent," he said. The "legacy" divisions, those army divisions that were originally recruited just to serve in their home provinces, will receive new training and pay incentives to encourage them to operate elsewhere.
"We think in the future we are going to have much better luck in deploying the legacy divisions."
Reflecting back on his year in Baghdad, outgoing commander Major General James Thurman admitted that the sectarian conflict had been a massive challenge, but now finally US forces had a handle on it.
"We've got the decrease in violence going in the right direction," he told AFP. "We've seen murders drop off significantly."
"This is one of the toughest things I've ever had to do," he said about his year. "The sectarian nature of the fight right now makes it extremely difficult."
"The Iraqi forces do have to deal with militias, that is the source of the problems in Baghdad."