According to the Asia Times, in order to "nip the threat of Shi'a Islamic fundamentalist domination in the bud," the US is arming militias of former Ba'ath party members.
"A similar strategy was used in Afghanistan"
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB15Ak02.html
Snippets after the fold.
To head off this threat of a Shi'ite clergy-driven religious movement, the US has, according to Asia Times Online investigations, resolved to arm small militias backed by US troops and entrenched in the population to "nip the evil in the bud".
Asia Times Online has learned that in a highly clandestine operation, the US has procured Pakistan-manufactured weapons, including rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammunition, rockets and other light weaponry. Consignments have been loaded in bulk onto US military cargo aircraft at Chaklala airbase in the past few weeks. The aircraft arrived from and departed for Iraq.
The US-armed and supported militias in the south will comprise former members of the Ba'ath Party, which has already split into three factions, only one of which is pro-Saddam Hussein. They would be expected to receive assistance from pro-US interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord.
Of course, I have long suspected that we would not be happy with an Iraq aligned with Iran, and I wondered how we might be able to pull off another regime change in Iraq.
If Asia Times is to be believed, we've found out how.
Comments about how similar this is to the mistakes of US policy in the past is pretty much obvious, so I won't belabor the point.
This Financial Times article provides context and indirect proof of the desirability of this action to the warmongers:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bb316aaa-7e2c-11d9-ac22-00000e2511c8.html
The presence of an elected, Shia-dominated government in Baghdad could give Iran a key bargaining chip in its constant struggle with the US and the EU to win the right to enrich uranium, which Tehran claims is for peaceful purposes, but Washington fears is part of a covert nuclear weapons programme.
The US and the European Union have been seeking to convince Iran to destroy facilities used to enrich uranium, which they fear could be part of a nuclear weapons programme, which Iran has denied.
Iran clearly sees Iraq's Shia as natural allies: during the parliamentary campaign in Iraq last month, Iranian television carried advertisements for the Alliance, and encouraged Iraqi expatriates in Iran to vote in absentee elections.