Sadr The Folk Hero

We've all been so focused on intra-Shiite conflicts in Baghdad and Basra and points south, everybody's figured that the Sunni areas were perfectly dandy. But that's not how Iraq works; stability is fragile no matter where you go.

Dozens of Iraqis were killed Tuesday in attacks that included a massive car bombing in Diyala province, where security had improved significantly in recent months.

A car bomb in that province's capital, Baqubah, killed at least 35 people and injured 66, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Iraqi officials provided a higher death toll, saying that 43 had been killed and that women and children were among those killed. The explosions destroyed three buses and damaged 10 shops, the military said.

Meanwhile, in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people, according to Iraqi officials.

Considering that continual bombing requires reconstruction and relief for affected families, you would think that the FIRST thing the military would do would be to ensure that the Iraqi government would be the clearinghouse for such activities. It would improve loyalty to the state and show some compassion, and heck some actual progress from the leadership in Baghdad. But that's not happening, and just like with Hezbollah in Lebanon, into the breach steps the Mahdi Army. This explains their popularity.

The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which has provided little financial assistance to the more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled the country's sectarian violence, has also failed to support millions more internally displaced persons who are instead being aided by militias, according to a report by Refugees International due for release today.

"Militias of all denominations are improving their local base of support by providing social services in neighborhoods and towns they control," the report says. It also finds that the Iraqi government, "although it has access to large sums of money," lacks the capacity and political will "to address humanitarian needs." [...]

The Refugees International study found that, with many displaced Iraqis living in poverty, the movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has become Iraq's "largest 'humanitarian' organization." It said that Sadr's group " 'resettles' displaced Iraqis free of charge in homes that belonged to Sunnis." It said Sunni militias "play a similar role with displaced and needy Sunnis."

A diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his Iraqi connections, said yesterday that there have been disagreements within the Maliki government over the refugees. "Iraq's response has been woefully inadequate, and more should be done to help the refugees," the diplomat said. "But the cabinet has not focused on it because of other problems, and the ministry handling refugees is dysfunctional."

This is how governments get overthrown - when the basic needs of their citizens are ignored. And in so doing, the Maliki government is turning Muqtada al-Sadr into some kind of civil rights leader. He's the one arguing for restoration of police and Army forces (which takes chutzpah, since they were fighting him), he's the one fighting for the people, calling for unity. Rahm Emanuel "skin in the game" comment was ghoulish, but it ought to be applied to the Iraqi government, who is tucking away tens of billions in Swiss bank accounts while militias take control of the country. This is a predictable disaster, and it's being tolerated because taxpayers here are propping up this irresponsibility by doing a lot of funding ourselves. Once again, our presence makes things worse.