Matt Sherman spent two tears in Iraq as the American adviser to Iraq's Interior Ministry. In his op-column in the NYT today his assessment of the situation is as follows:

"Perhaps most troubling, since the Shiite-led government came to power last May, militia members have entered the Iraqi Army and police forces en masse. The danger is that many feel stronger allegiance to their militias and religious sects than to the state. One group, the Badr Organization, which is led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and fought Saddam Hussein from exile in Iran, has slowly gained virtual control of the Interior Ministry; another, the followers of the young anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, has gained significant influence over chiefs of police and governors' offices in the south of the country.

It is all too possible that these and other militias will become more powerful than the Iraqi Army and police forces. After all, during the sectarian gang attacks since the Samarra bombing, Iraqis reflexively turned to their tribes and family connections for security, having lost faith in the central government to protect them. "

His ideas for solving this problem shows a great disconnect for a person of his position.