General Ray Odierno took command of US-led forces in Iraq today, faced with the challenge of ensuring security gains do not unravel at a time when American troop levels are being reduced.
He replaced General David Petraeus at a ceremony presided over by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who
said the two generals had formed an "incredible team" during the deployment of 30,000 extra US troops to Iraq last year.
"He (Odierno) knows that we are at a pivotal moment - where progress remains fragile and caution should be the order of the day," Mr Gates said in the ornate halls of one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces that is now part of a giant US military base.
While violence has hit four-year lows in Iraq, militants have still been able to pull off large-scale attacks.
A female suicide bomber killed 22 people at a dinner celebration for police in Diyala province on Monday, hours after two car bombs killed 12 people in the capital Baghdad.
General Petraeus leaves behind a very different Iraq from the one he faced when he took over in February 2007, when Iraq was on the brink of all-out civil war.
"Slowly, but inexorably, the tide began to turn. Our enemies took a fearsome beating they will not soon forget," said Mr Gates.
But General Odierno will still face numerous challenges.
On the security front, these include making sure Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, already significantly weakened, remains on its knees and unable to incite sectarian bloodshed.
Iraq is expected to hold provincial elections either at the end of 2008 or in early 2009. These will be followed by national polls in late 2009.
Both could be a flashpoint for tensions between Arabs and Kurds with territorial disputes in the north as well as rival Shi'ite factions vying for dominance in the south, home to most of Iraq's vital oil reserves.
Reuters