In the southern city of Kut, a local Shiite cleric has appointed himself mayor and taken over city hall. Sayed Abbas is said to be a local leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. He’s hired 300 Iranian Shiites to protect him. They rallied outside city hall yesterday, shouting, “No, no Chalabi!” The New York Times reports, in towns and villages across the south, men are stepping into the power void, uninvited by the Pentagon. In Amara, a small family with ties to the Lebanese group Hezbollah is claiming title to the town. In the city of Kumayt, three sheikhs with ties to Iran are claiming municipal authority.

The Pentagon said yesterday major combat in Iraq is now over. Two of the five aircraft carriers in the region will head home as early as this week. The announcement comes after the fall of Tikrit to U.S. forces, but Baghdad is still in a state of chaos.