We don't hear all that much in the US about the Shiite areas of South Iraq and Basra, where the British are nominally in control. Apparently, `nominally' is hardly the word.
This rather bleak article: 'Welcome to Tehran' - how Iran took control of Basra is an eyewitness account of the extent of Iran's control, via the militias and local Shiites.
What we essentially have there is mafia-style control of the oil wells, and indeed just about every function of government.
And the strings are all pulled by Iran...
The international scuttlebutt is that one of Gordon Brown's first acts as the new British PM when he takes over will be to accelerate the UK pullout from Iraq.
We'll see...
