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Washington A former aide to General David Petraeus warns that as the Pentagon prepares to send another 1,500 US troops to Iraq to help destroy the Islamic State fighters, there may be an even greater danger that forces face: Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

The power of these militias has been growing throughout the country this year after Iraqi security forces were unable to prevail and in some cases shed their uniforms and ran while battling Islamic State fighters.

The Shiite militias are well-trained, in many cases by Iranian military commanders, and battle-tested. During the height of the Iraq war, these militias were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US troops.

While the Islamic State is a potent military foe, it has comparatively little support from Iraqis. But Shiite militias play upon the worst fears of Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish minorities that the Shiite majority is ruthlessly consolidating power. Indeed, some analysts say Iraqi Sunnis tolerate the Islamic State because it is seen as a counterweight to the Shiite militias.

In that way, Shiite militias could present a thornier problem to the future of a unified Iraq than does the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS.

Back in 2007, when I was serving with Petraeus, I mentioned to him that although Al Qaeda in Iraq was the wolf closest to the shed, in the long run Shiite militias could be more dangerous to Iraqi sovereignty, says retired Colonel Peter Mansoor.

Not much has changed Al Qaeda in Iraq has been replaced by ISIS as the wolf closest to the shed, says Dr. Mansoor, who is now an associate professor of military history at Ohio State University.

This is a view seconded by a number of seasoned Iraq analysts.

As significant as is the threat from the Islamic State and it is very significant the threat posed by Shiite militias may well prove to be the long-term threat to Iraq, says a former senior US commander in Iraq, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This is because the Islamic State has nowhere near the roots, numbers, nor attraction to the Sunni population of Iraq that Al Qaeda in Iraq did at the start of the surge of US forces into Iraq in early 2007, the former commander explains.

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Worse than Islamic State? Concerns rise about Iraq's Shiite militias.

Iraqs cabinet approved a smaller 2015 spending plan than the government expected because of the collapse in oil, which provides most government revenue.

The budget, based on a $60 a barrel price for oil, stands at 123 trillion dinars ($103 billion), Saad Al-Hadithi, spokesman for the office of the prime minister, said by phone yesterday. The budget deficit was set at 23 trillion dinars and total revenue at 99.8 trillion dinars, including oil revenue of 84 trillion dinars, Obaid Mahal, deputy secretary general of the cabinet, said. The 2015 budget had initially been set at 141 trillion dinars, and was 138.4 trillion dinars in 2013.

The reason behind the cut in the budget is because of the oil price drop, and curbing unnecessary spending, Mudher Mohammed Saleh, economic adviser to Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi, said.

Iraq, home to the worlds fifth-largest crude reserves, is engulfed in an armed conflict since Islamist State militants took over major cities and energy facilities in June. Global crude prices dropped about 45 percent this year because of an oversupply and slower growth in demand amid the largest U.S. oil production in at least three decades.

The operational budget is 78 trillion dinars and the rest is investment budget, Faris Yousif Jajo, minister of technology, said. The cut in the investment budget covered all ministries for investment projects including oil, he said, without providing details.

Parliament speaker Saleem Al-Jibouri called for an extraordinary session at 11 a.m. local time on Dec. 26 to discuss the budget, according to state-sponsored Iraqiya television. Ahmed Mahjoub, media adviser to the parliament speaker, confirmed the session by phone.

Iraqs oil exports in the 2015 budget were set at 3.3 million barrels a day, Mahal said. Its production accounted for 10 percent of OPECs output in November at 3.35 million barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Iraq has been building its oil infrastructure and surpassed Iran to become the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2012. The government may have to scale back its plan to boost production in the next five years because of the drop in oil prices and the cost of fighting the militants, Iraqs Deputy Prime Minister Rowsch Shaways said on Dec. 17.

Iraqs previous government failed to adopt a state budget for 2014 because of political disputes mainly with the semi-autonomous Kurdish enclave in the north of the country, aggravated by the drop in oil prices. The Kurds share in the 2015 spending plan was kept unchanged from previous budgets at 17 percent, according to Mahal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Khalid Al-Ansary in Baghdad at kalansary@bloomberg.net

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Iraq Cabinet Approves Lower Spending Plan on Oils Drop

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014 file photo, Yazidi fighters gather on the summit of Mount Sinjar as they head to battle Islamic State militants, in Iraq. The Islamic State group swept into Sinjar town and surrounding villages in early August, part of their blitzkrieg across northern Iraq. The advance of the extremists struck particular fear here. Much of the population come from the minority Yazidi religious community, a tiny sect that the Sunni Muslim radicals consider heretics. Hundreds were killed. Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls were taken captive by the militants, turned into sex slaves or forcibly married to IS supporters in Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo/Dalton Bennett, File)(The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014 photo, Iraqi Kurdish forces head to battle Islamic State militants, on the summit of Mount Sinjar, in Iraq. The Islamic State group swept into Sinjar town and surrounding villages in early August, part of their blitzkrieg across northern Iraq. The advance of the extremists struck particular fear here. Much of the population come from the minority Yazidi religious community, a tiny sect that the Sunni Muslim radicals consider heretics. Hundreds were killed. Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls were taken captive by the militants, turned into sex slaves or forcibly married to IS supporters in Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo/Dalton Bennett, File)(The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014 file photo, Kurdistan Iraqi regional government President Massoud Barzani, center, arrives to support Kurdish forces as they head to battle Islamic State militants, on the summit of Mount Sinjar, in the town of Sinjar, Iraq. On Sunday, Barazani, visited the command center on the mountain top, vowing to his fighters that they would crush the Islamic State fighters wherever they find them. (AP Photo/Zana Ahmed, File)(The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014 file photo, bodies of Islamic State militants killed during fighting on Wednesday, when Kurdish forces pushed towards Sinjar Mountain, lie in a ditch in Koban, Iraq. The Islamic State group swept into Sinjar town and surrounding villages in early August, part of their blitzkrieg across northern Iraq. The advance of the extremists struck particular fear here. Much of the population come from the minority Yazidi religious community, a tiny sect that the Sunni Muslim radicals consider heretics. Hundreds were killed. Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls were taken captive by the militants, turned into sex slaves or forcibly married to IS supporters in Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo/Dalton Bennett, File)(The Associated Press)

MOUNT SINJAR, Iraq The road to the battlefront plunges straight down the steep face of Mount Sinjar, whipped by a fierce wind. It is littered with trucks and cars that couldn't get up that incline, abandoned by their owners months ago as they fled the rampage of Islamic State group extremists.

Clothes lie piled on the side of the road, left behind by fleeing families unable to carry them.

Over the past week, Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters have descended the mountain, battling to liberate the town of Sinjar, a tiny desert community in northern Iraq that the gunmen overran in August, massacring and enslaving hundreds of its residents.

An Associated Press correspondent was with the Kurds. This is his report.

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The fighting, which is still ongoing, has been fierce. One day this week, a Chevy Tahoe rushed up to a Kurdish position on the edge of town, blaring its horn and flashing its lights. The peshmerga fighters inside piled out with the body of a fellow Kurdish fighter hit by a militant sniper's bullet.

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From a remote desert mountaintop in Iraq, Kurds battle to free a town held by Islamic State

RAAF Flight-Lt "Tik" will probably spend Christmas Day like he has spent most other days in recent months - prowling the skies over Iraq in search of Islamic State fighters.

Tik, who cannot reveal his name for security reasons, is one of a few Australian strike pilots taking part in the US-led coalition aimed at rolling back radical Sunni insurgents menacing Iraq.

Tik trained as a pilot at RAAF Base Pearce. He met his wife Nat at the Breakwater pub in Hillarys and they now have twin 18-month-old girls.

It is the second Christmas in a row Tik has not been at home with his family. Last year he was working in Afghanistan in a ground job.

"That means I haven't had a chance to spend Christmas with my twin girls yet," he said.

Together with his back-seat weapons systems officer "Hazy", Tik regularly flies nine-hour missions from a base in the United Arab Emirates over the deserts of central and western Iraq.

RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornets have carried out many combat missions since beginning operations in October.

"Operating over Iraq can be busy and it's quite a dynamic environment," Tik said. "The situation on the ground is equally dynamic, so we take a lot of care to properly identify (IS) targets."

It takes about two hours for the jets to get to and from Iraq.

The Australians orbit over assigned areas waiting for directions to hit a target.

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Iraq air strikes keep pilot busy at Christmas

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