Kurds and Way-Out Factions By Jesse Stanchak

Slate.com:

"Kurds and Way-Out Factions
By Jesse Stanchak
Posted Sunday, Aug. 21, 2005, at 2:52 AM PT

The Washington Post leads with the rise of Shiite and Kurdish militia groups in northern and southern Iraq. The New York Times leads with the nationwide rush of new bankruptcy claims as debtors move to file before stricter laws take effect in October. The Los Angeles Times leads with Pope Benedict XVI urging Muslim leaders to crack down on terrorism.

The paramilitary wings of Kurdish and Shiite political parties in northern and southern Iraq have spun webs of corruption and violence that may undermine any attempts to bring those regions under a federal Iraqi state, the WP reports. Kidnappings, assassinations, and other violent crimes run rampant around primarily Shiite Basra in the south and Kurdish-controlled Mosul in the north, with each group trying to stamp out their opposition. The crimes are often committed by coalition-trained security forces, whose true allegiance lies with ethnic or religious political parties, not any sort of central Iraqi authority. The WP writes that the local groups seem more intent on dominating their respective territories than participating in a unified Iraqi government, enforcing their authority with the kind of swift brutality that seems only too familiar."