Us Army

Violence in the central Baghdad area that Lieutenant-Colonel Craig Collier oversees has fallen sharply over the past year, but the wiry U.S. squadron commander cannot afford to be complacent.

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Last month, a unit of soldiers that patrolled a sizable chunk of the Iraqi capital adjacent to Collier's zone became one of the first to return home as part of the unwinding of President George W. Bush's troop "surge."

Collier has taken on responsibility for the departed unit's area and must now maintain security in a vast 20 sq.km. (8 sq.mile) swathe of Baghdad, from the Tigris River to the violent Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, with half the force that was there only a few months ago.

"It is a test of sorts," Collier, 44, said. "After the first surge unit left, my squadron assumed their area and now controls an area twice the size with less than half the soldiers."

The arrival of 20,000 extra U.S. troops last year under the "surge" helped cut violence in Baghdad. But now, as those troops leave, officers like Collier must find a way to ensure the security gains do not vanish as quickly as they came.

The challenge is formidable.

Fighting continues to rage in anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Baghdad stronghold, which runs along the eastern edge of Collier's area of operations. On Saturday, the Shi'ite cleric threatened Iraqi and U.S. forces with all-out war.

At the same time, the threat from al Qaeda militants, driven from the capital last year, seems to be rising again. The U.S. military said last week it had intelligence showing al Qaeda was slipping back into Baghdad to carry out a new wave of attacks.

On a recent patrol in Collier's central Baghdad zone