The New York Times reports today that Iraqi Shiites want changes made to the UN agreement that underlies the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq. A quote from the article:

"Iraqi leaders are handcuffed" by the United Nations agreement, said Hadi al-Ameri, a member of the committee and the leader of the Defense and Security Committee in Parliament. "We will not tell the Americans to go, but if they stay it should be according to conditions."

Spencer Ackerman says:

What's significant about this? The speaker. Hadi al-Ameri is not simply the leader of the Iraqi parliament's Defense and Security Committee. He's the leader of the Badr Corps, the militia/death squad of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the dominant faction of the dominant Iraqi sect....

... The man who leads the Badr Corps ... is now a crucial decision-maker in telling the U.S. how it may behave that country. If ever you find yourself starting to believe that the militias can be "dealt with" or "cracked down on," remember this basic, basic fact. Ameri has won, and the U.S. has lost. What do you suppose Ameri will do when he and his colleagues are no longer "handcuffed"?