Failing to Disband Militias, U.S. Moves to Accept Them
By DEXTER FILKINS
May 25, 2004 NYT

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24 — With only weeks to go until an Iraqi government takes over, American officials have failed to disarm the tens of thousands of fighters in private militias deployed almost exclusively along ethnic and religious lines.

By Rami El-Amine
published in Left Turn
www.leftturn.org

"What is striking is how much has changed in a week - a week. No one can talk about the Sunni Triangle anymore. No one can seriously talk about Sunni-Shia fragmentation or civil war. The occupation cannot talk about small bands of resistance. Now it is a popular rebellion and it has spread." - Wamid Nadhmi, a political science professor at Baghdad University

from juancole.com, May 17th

al-Zaman: On Sunday, Shiite religious authorities in Karbala formally closed the shrines of Imam Husain and his half-brother Abu'l-Fadl Abbas, to pilgrims. This rare procedure has not been implemented for decades. It was felt necessary because although militiamen (including Badr Corps) loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani hold the shrines, they have been infiltrated recently by gunmen of the Mahdi Army loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, who are using them for cover in their fight against the Americans.

Account of Broad Shiite Revolt Contradicts White House Stand
By JAMES RISEN
New York Times

WASHINGTON, April 7 — United States forces are confronting a broad-based Shiite uprising that goes well beyond supporters of one militant Islamic cleric who has been the focus of American counterinsurgency efforts, United States intelligence officials said Wednesday.