Iraq calmer but more fragmented

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Iraq bloodshed's abated since the U.S. troop buildup but instead of rebuilding during the lull the nation's fragmented more into tribes, parties and militias.

A weak central government is overseeing a disintegrating nation, the Los Angeles Times reported. Shiite Muslims in Basra are warring over oil in the south; Sunni tribes help police highways in the west. Arabs, Turks and Kurds are battling in the north, the paper said.

"Iraq is moving in the direction of a failed state, a highly decentralized situation -- totally unplanned, of course -- with competing centers of power run by warlords and militias," Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group told the Times.