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Iraq

Sistani Won't Back Shiite Parties

2005-10-27

Iraq's top Shiite cleric has decided to withhold his endorsement of a Shiite coalition that swept last January's general election, rejecting repeated pleas by senior politicians for him to reconsider, associates on both sides said Wednesday. The move by the Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reflected the cleric's disappointment with the performance of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Shiite-led government, according to three associates of the cleric who are in regular contact with him. Their comments represent the first known rift between the prominent ayatollah and the Shiite political parties he has supported since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

A senior official of al-Jaafari's Dawa party, Ali al-Adeeb, confirmed that al-Sistani had not "yet" agreed to endorse the Shiite alliance. Lack of an al-Sistani endorsement will reduce the chances that the Shiite coalition, formally known as the United Iraqi Alliance, can repeat its Jan. 30 success in the next election, set for Dec. 15. Al-Sistani's support was credited for enabling the alliance to win 140 of parliament's 275 seats, allowing it to form a government with the Kurds. Failure to repeat such success could significantly alter Iraq's political landscape, raising the possibility of a coalition government — perhaps without the big Shiite religious parties with ties to Iran.

Posted by:Fred

#5 i agree with dot com - its a very big deal IF it holds up.

Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-10-27 11:30

#4 Sistani is taking the traditional Shia position that politics and religion are different spheres and should be kept apart. The aberation of Iran is that Khomeinei took essentially a Sunni position on that issue. But Najaf isn't Qom and the Iraqi Shia schools have always stressed this point.

Sistani has done a fairly decent job of providing leadership to the Shias while not going back on his apolitical posture IMO.

Posted by: lotp 2005-10-27 10:36

#3 Sistani is right. Security is lame in the southern region and the miltias are prominent in the police, many of the police are captive to the local militas.

Posted by: Captain America 2005-10-27 02:58

#2 This is a big deal, IMHO.

Posted by: .com 2005-10-27 01:04

#1 "The al-Sistani associates said the ayatollah's decision to withhold his support from the coalition arose from the government's failure to improve security, services - such as power and water supplies - or end persistent fuel shortages.

Al-Sistani also was concerned about what his associates said was the government's inability to curtail the influence of militias, fight corruption and stop neighboring countries from meddling in Iraq's internal affairs."

Since this came from "spokesmen", not directly from Mr Thousand Yard Stare, who knows if this is what the squirrel really believes --- BUT it would be one hell of an improvement - and I'd be happy to eat a flock of crows if this fool would get behind such ideas and make them happen, not just sit on his Islamic Olympus and mutter to his navel.

I am particularly pleased that this withdrawal of support might end in getting rid of the current crop of moron Shi'ites from the key power positions. They are, in a word, disasters. Utterly without focus or effective plans. Allawi was 100x better, IMHO.

On a cautionary note - fragmenting this Shi'a alliance may be good for the Kurds and the 'semi-secularists' like Allawi, but it could also open up cracks for the infernal Sunnis, too. That really would mean gridlock. Fucking Sunnis.

Cut the Kurds, and any intelligent modern Iraqis who wish to join them, loose from this mess.

Posted by: .com 2005-10-27 01:03

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