ARTICLE: Iraq Restricts U.S. Forces, By Ernesto Londoño and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, July 18, 2009

Major restrictions suddenly announced by al-Maliki's government to curtail U.S. military activities.

The strict application of the agreement coincides with what U.S. military officials in Washington say has been an escalation of attacks against their forces by Iranian-backed Shiite extremist groups, to which they have been unable to fully respond.

If extremists realize "some of the limitations that we have, that's a vulnerability they could use against us," a senior U.S. military intelligence official said. "The fact is that some of these are very politically sensitive targets" thought to be close to the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

There has long been the fear inside Iraq that we're leaving behind 3 armies: a Shia-dominated Iraq Army, the Sunni militias, and the Kurds' pesh merga.

Apparently, there is a privileged fourth, previously thought to be sufficiently grounded by al-Maliki.