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The US is stepping up its assistance to the Iraq, with plans to send 175 M1 Abrams tanks and scores of armored vehicles to an army that's hasn't been a trustworthy recipient of American aid.

And nowBloomberg is reporting that Iranian-backed Shi'ite sectarian militias are receiving equipment intended for the Iraqi military's sole use, with the likely complicity of officials in Iraq's security apparatus.

According to Eli Lake and Josh Rogin, US weapons are "winding upin the possession of the countrys Shiite militias." American policymakers are aware of this but have decided that the moral hazard of supplying an Iraqi army that in turn supplies Shi'ite militias pales in comparison to the dangers of another ISIS blitz.

"One senior administration official told us that the U.S. government is aware of this, but is caught in a dilemma," Bloomerg reports. "The flawed Iraqi security forces are unable to fight Islamic State without the aid of the militias, who are often trained and sometimes commanded by officers from Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps. And yet, if the U.S. stoppedsending arms to the Iraqi military, things would get even worse, with IS overrunning more of the country and committing human-rights horrors on a broader scale.The risk of not aiding themwas greater than the risk of aiding them, the official said, adding that this didn't mean the administration was unconcerned about the risks involved."

Iran has been closely advising Iraq's military during the anti-ISIS fight. Sunni tribes a crucial but fledgling partner in the US strategy in Iraq have accusedthe Iraqi government of handing over military power to Iranian advisors as IRGC and Hezbollah fighters enter the country.

Since the outbreak of the conflict Iran has wanted to turn Iraq into its own backyard through its agents, Anbar tribal chief Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Nael told Rudaw. Now the military presence of Iran in Iraq has become clear as it has exceeded the Iranian advisers to thousand of other soldiers.

As Matt Bradley and Ghassan Adnanreported for the Wall Street Journalin December, Shi'ite militias are more motivated, better trained, and more tactically proficient than Iraq's national military. But these aren't exactly virtues, considering Iraq's ethnic and religious diversity, when those militias areburning Sunni villagesto the ground.

The militias' high morale and competence has fueled and enabled a spate of sectarian human rights abuses,"including mass shootings of prisoners and Sunni civilians and the forced displacement of Sunni families on a scale approaching ethnic cleansing."

REUTERSThe areas of control in Iraq as of October. The front lines have not drastically changed.

So the administration's calculation may actually undersell the risks of indirectly supplying Iranian proxies. Although Lake and Rogin don't directly name the militias that are receiving US weapons, a few possibilities come to mind and none of them are encouraging.

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The Obama Administration Has Made A Striking Choice In Iraq