A judge shot dead with 15 bullets from a Kalashnikov. A policeman gunned down. Local figures from rival political groups and influential armed factions killed.

The murders all happened in January and February in one Iraqi province, Maysan, which borders Iran and where drug trafficking, tribal disputes and political score-settling have combined in a toxic mix reflecting the country's broader political divisions and struggle against corruption.

War-scarred Iraq is trying to recover from years of violence after the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Normality often hangs by a thread.
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But in Maysan, violence is a near-daily occurrence with police and judicial officials regular targets of assassination attempts.

Hints of a greater presence of an IRGC-linked Iraqi armed faction with government-salaried brigades in a Sunni tribal-dominant province has sparked outcry, as the group continues to raise money for operations in other countries.

The Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah (KH) has in recent weeks stepped up messaging and attacks on its enemies both inside and outside Iraq.

A Feb. 3 drone attack on the UAE was claimed by the Iraq-based Alwiyat al-Waad al-Haq, which most experts believe is either a front group for KH or closely linked to them. KH has donated funds and urged other to do so for drones for Yemen’s Houthis, using “your money is unmanned aerial vehicles” as part of its marketing, with an image of an iconic UAE building in the background.
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The movements of KH brigades in Iraq’s westernmost, mostly desert province of Anbar a few days later sparked outcry and fears among local inhabitants. Iraqi officials said the brigades were part of the government-salaried Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) officially deployed to the area, but local tribal leaders and others lashed out.

The remains of some 629 Iraqis who went missing during the eight-year war are awaiting collection, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society said.

​The Iraqi Red Crescent called on Tuesday for Iraqis to collect the retrieved remains of relatives killed in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

The remains of some 629 Iraqis who went missing during the eight-year war await collection, the Red Crescent Society said.

In coordination with the Iraqi defence ministry, the NGO published the names of the victims whose remains had been identified.
It asked relatives to collect their remains from the Al-Hassan Al-Basri cemetery in Al-Zubair in the southern province of Basra.

The positive rebranding of Muqtada al Sadr by international media and experts serves to entrench the broken post-2003 Iraqi political order, not fix it.

In many ways, it is incredible how the standard news cycle works and in a manner that seems to blight much of its audience with a collective amnesia. 

Like a theatrical production, a good news story usually covers an isolated event with main characters, protagonists and antagonists. Depending on the political leanings of the organisation covering the story, the event is picked apart by commentators, many of whom are genuine experts but have mere minutes to explain a complicated event in isolation of its broader context.
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In modern Iraq, no story and no “main character” elicits as much collective amnesia in the media – even amongst those who ought to know better – than the saga of the Shia cleric, militia commander, and newly anointed political leader that is Muqtada al Sadr.