Speaking
to Pentagon reporters via video link from Baghdad, Farris cited several
factors he said contributed to the improving security situation. Among
them is the "surge," the additional U.S. troops deployed
earlier this year. 
Watch
how old rivalries have been posing problems »
Also
helping improve the security situation are the cease-fire by radical
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army and the development of a
program that employs "concerned local citizens" to assist U.S.
and Iraqi forces, Farris said.
Some
of those citizens are members of local Sunni "awakening
councils," comprised of former militants -- often armed -- who
create neighborhood watch groups to root out the insurgent elements in
an area.
Especially
in the last six weeks, Farris said, civic and religious leaders have
seen outsiders operating in the area and troops have made arrests, two
Iranian operatives among them
"From
my foxhole, in our sector, it is working," he said of the improving
security in the area. "I can only speak to what I see in my sector
and I am encouraged."
Farris'
sector -- which includes the Sunni-dominated district of Adhamiya and
Sadr City, the Shiite slum where militants have demonstrated a strong
presence -- has seen a "remarkable turnaround," he said.
Many
of the communities in his area have been wracked with sectarian warfare
and terrorized by insurgents and death squads.
Despite
improvements in the security situation, Farris warned that "we
still have a lot of work to do" because there doesn't appear to be
any sign that Shiite extremists with links to Iran are halting their
activities.
Farris
said troops also are still finding explosively formed penetrators, which
are often delivered or manufactured by Iran.
Nine such bombs were found in late October, he said.
There
are intelligence reports indicating weapons and money are still flowing
into Sadr City, he said.
There
are also problems returning refugees and displaced people to their homes
in the area, Farris said, because "essential services" like
water and electricity are not yet up to snuff.
Though
a "trickle" of families has returned home and many are asking
when they can return, Farris said he believes residents will return en
masse only when basic services are in better shape.
Paul
Folmsbee, a State Department provincial reconstruction team leader, said
at the same news conference that his personnel was handling development
issues involving law, governance, economic development and essential
services.
Farris'
Monday remarks echo a string of similar assertions made by U.S. and
Iraqi military officials over recent weeks. The military officials say
they are seeing signs of Sunni-Shiite reconciliation.
At a
press conference earlier Monday in Baghdad,
Brig. Gen. Ed Cardon, deputy commander for support of Multi-National
Division-Center, discussed a "definite period of progress" in
his region on the southern Baghdad outskirts.
E-mail
to a friend 
