Militias on the Rise Across Iraq

BASRA, Iraq -- Shiite and Kurdish militias, often operating as part of Iraqi government security forces, have carried out a wave of abductions, assassinations and other acts of intimidation, consolidating their control over territory across northern and southern Iraq and deepening the country's divide along ethnic and sectarian lines, according to political leaders, families of the victims, human rights activists and Iraqi officials.

While Iraqi representatives wrangle over the drafting of a constitution in Baghdad, the militias, and the Shiite and Kurdish parties that control them, are creating their own institutions of authority, unaccountable to elected governments, the activists and officials said. In Basra in the south, dominated by the Shiites, and Mosul in the north, ruled by the Kurds, as well as cities and villages around them, many residents have said they are powerless before the growing sway of the militias, which instill a climate of fear that many see as redolent of the era of former president Saddam Hussein.

The parties and their armed wings sometimes operate independently, and other times as part of Iraqi army and police units trained and equipped by the United States and Britain and controlled by the central government. Their growing authority has enabled them to control territory, confront their perceived enemies and provide patronage to their followers. Their ascendance has come about because of a power vacuum in Baghdad and their own success in the January parliamentary elections.

"I don't see any difference between Saddam and the way the Kurds are running things here," said Nahrain Toma, who heads a human rights organization, Bethnahrain, which has offices in northern Iraq and has faced several death threats.

"Here's the problem," said Majid Sari, an adviser in the Iraqi Defense Ministry in Basra, who travels with a security detail of 25 handpicked Iraqi soldiers. Referring to the militias, he said, "They're taking money from the state, they're taking clothes from the state, they're taking vehicles from the state, but their loyalty is to the parties." Whoever disagrees, he said, "the next day you'll find them dead in the street."

British officials, whose authority runs through Basra and parts of southern Iraq, have called the killings "totally unacceptable."

One of the most powerful militias in southern Iraq, the Badr Organization, which is blamed for many of the assassinations, denied any role in the killings. The head of the group in Basra, Ghanim Mayahi, said his organization was only providing "support and assistance" to the police through lightly armed militiamen. "There is no law, there is no order, and the police are scared of the tribes. Badr is not afraid, and it can face those threats," he said.

"There is an absence of law," said a 40-year-old Transportation Ministry official who was detained for five days in Dahuk last month. The official said a Kurdish officer had accused him of "writing against the Kurds on the Internet."

"'Freedom' and 'liberty' are only words in ink on a piece of paper," he said. "The law now, it's the big fish eats the small fish."

Source:
Washington Post

Apparntly the New "Democratic" State of Iraq is nowhere near the Safety an the Security that a Democratic States Enjoy. The Militias of all three Ethnic/Religious groups are in control of the Land and not the People of Iraq. US and Coalition Troops can't really do much against there Militas, for they have supported them and armed them in the past. Now all they can do is watch and see how the country is falling apart, since all of three groups have taken Law in their own hands. There is no Law, there is no Order and the State Police is Scared of the Tribes - was said by a Shiite of the Badr Organization that operates in the South. The only laws around here are the Tribes and their - Tribal Law. Is it going to be included in the new "Democratic Iraqi Constitution"?

But the Iraqi Deadline Looms without any Deal, again.

The Iraqi militia soldiers are only fighting as patriots to there captured capitals and cities. Iknow we are the bad guys in this war, and I know the only reason these people seem so bad is because they are fighting back. Defending for what they believe in. America is propigating this destruction; how can you blame them if we are the ones causing 'terrorism'?

I will salute the president on the day he gives me a reason to be in war besides "to fight tearism."

People need to understand that the woes on Iraqi soil are far from over,

Yes under the occupation they got elections and a new government.

Under coalition they are drawing their constitution.

Everything looks good and dandy, but the biggest problem has not surfaced yet.

The civil war that is coming, is unavoidable.

US went from "invaders" to "liberators" to "occupation" forces and now we will be caught up in their own civil war when all the tribes decided that they don't like each other any more than they like the US forces in their land.

What's Funny for me is that these Militias, the Shia and Kurdish, are allowed to carry out their part of Terrorism (Assassinations, Kidnapings etc) and they have the right to uphold their Tribal Law - but when it comes to Sunni Militias, they are called Insurgents, Terrorists and Rebels. When in essence they all are basicly the Same and they wishes and demands are pretty similar.

But the Law in Iraq today is, sadly, that the Big Fish eat the Small Fish.

those kurdish people have been F**** over everytime...by the arabs...its good that the people of kurdistan is taking revange....they should do worst to them in my opinoin...becuse they deserve it...