Chicago in Basra

Publius pundit brings up an interesting point about Islamic militias in Iraq and how the constitutional issue of federalism puts regional security and human rights issues in jeopardy.

First from the Guardian.

Basra has not been beset by the levels of violence seen in Baghdad and the Sunni triangle but the relative calm that has held since the fall of Saddam Hussein is now under threat, say residents and diplomats.
They draw a picture of a once proud but now impoverished port city steadily falling under the sway of competing Shia Islamist groups and their militias. The groups are said to have infiltrated all levels of the police and local authorities, and are answerable to no one but their religious leaders and party bosses.

And now from Robert Mayer.

This actually goes back to one of my main arguments against the state of federalism being proposed in the draft constitution, in which the country would be divided into a Shiite south, Kurdish north, and whatever else in the middle. The too-weak central state proposed would practically endorse the militia rule that is enveloping the south, and the more powerful they get, the more Iraq will become chaotic.

The central government still doesn’t have the power to deal with this.  Getting electricity and water to the people would help, but it’s slow going.  It’s not time for the US to leave yet.