Iraq has assumed full air traffic control responsibility for the country’s airspace Iraq has assumed full air traffic control responsibility for the country’s airspace for the first time since 2003 after the U.S. Air Force airspace handed over the management of Baghdad sector to the Civil Aviation Authority in Iraq.
while the  Prime Minister,  Nuri al-Maliki, accused one of the neighboring countries, without giving names, being behind the Nukhayb  incident in Anbar province last month .
"On October 1, 2011, the US Air Force (USAF) transferred management of the Baghdad/Balad Airspace sector to the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA)," said an embassy statement.
"Iraq's air traffic controllers are now directing the movement of all aircraft within the area, the busiest and most complex airspace in Iraq.
"With this step, Iraq has assumed full air traffic control responsibility for the country's airspace for the first time since 2003," it added.
Iraq is currently weighing its options on a post-2011 US military training mission. The roughly 41,500 US soldiers still in Iraq are currently required to withdraw from the country by year's end.
The embassy confirmed that "The decision aims to support economic development in Iraq and its sovereignty under the umbrella of the Strategic Framework Agreement".
The Embassy added: "U.S. and British trainers have trained the monitors of the air traffic in the Iraqi Civil Aviation, to become qualified in order  to cope with the  growing air .”
U.S. forces monitor the air traffic in all governorates of Iraq since 2003 except the Kurdish region.