Earlier this month, I visited Baghdad to talk to politicians, Iraqi defense officials, and militia leaders about the problem posed by militias in Iraq. Most Iraqi leaders pay lip service to the problems posed by militias, but the more serious politicians and officials have thought deeply about how to regain primacy over militias largely unconcerned with loyalty to the Iraqi state.

First, some caveats: There is a difference between Iran-backed militias, many of which predated Iraq’s liberation, and the groups which arose in answer to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s 2014 call for Iraqis to defend their country against the Islamic State.