With the world's attention fixated across the Mediterranean on the spiraling Syrian conflict, the efforts of Libya's elected leaders to rehabilitate their nation have been stung by the poisonous barb of militia power-politics.
The Hutu militia, Hutu Power, was trying to "ethnically cleanse" a 2,000-sq.-mile 2,000-sq.-mile 2,000-sq.-milegoareaf crearounda Mokotoermanent base.
But the Sadrists — who blame Mr. Maliki for a military crackdown that destroyed their militia's power — blocked any agreement that would have made him their candidate for prime minister.
The assault has also sparked continuing violence by outraged Mahdi commanders in other major cities, including Baghdad, where the sprawling urban slum called Sadr City forms the militia's power center in Iraq.
The committee also ordered families of the former government officials to remain at home to prevent more revenge killings like the ones that took the lives of five people after the militia took power.
For this reason we can expect hard fighting to follow as the Iraqi government uses every resource at its disposal - military forces, new local militias, air power, Iranian-backed Shia volunteers from southern militias, the Kurdish Peshmerga plus US intelligence and logistical support.
As long as militias have power, Libya's economic normalization will be postponed.
The political tussle would otherwise have become a crude battle between political operators and their militias for power inadequately defined, and with individuals and minorities inadequately protected.
Rival militias hold power in various parts of the country, which is seen by American officials as a haven for militants suspected of links to Al Qaeda.
A decade of lawlessness followed Barre's fall, until the Islamic Courts Union, a group of Sharia courts backed by militias, assumed power.
