Sunday, September 03, 2006

Sistani Falters   [Jonah Goldberg]

This will take some time to digest, but it sure doesn't sound good:

I no longer have power to save Iraq from civil war, warns Shia leader
By Gethin Chamberlain and Aqeel Hussein in Baghdad

(Filed: 03/09/2006)

The most influential moderate Shia leader in Iraq has abandoned attempts to restrain his followers, admitting that there is nothing he can do to prevent the country sliding towards civil war.

Aides say Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is angry and disappointed that Shias are ignoring his calls for calm and are switching their allegiance in their thousands to more militant groups which promise protection from Sunni violence and revenge for attacks.

"I will not be a political leader any more," he told aides. "I am only happy to receive questions about religious matters."

It is a devastating blow to the remaining hopes for a peaceful solution in Iraq and spells trouble for British forces, who are based in and around the Shia stronghold of Basra.

The cleric is regarded as the most important Shia religious leader in Iraq and has been a moderating influence since the invasion of 2003. He ended the fighting in Najaf between Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army and American forces in 2004 and was instrumental in persuading the Shia factions to fight the 2005 elections under the single banner of the United Alliance.

Also: From the reader who sent me the link: 

Now the wording in the story is a little tricky, it seems to me. It's possible that he's throwing a bit of a fit because he believes he isn't getting enough recognition from the Iraqi and American authorities.

 

Or that he is disgusted that he no longer has the authority among his followers; that they're abandoning him for al-Sadr or for their own responses regardless of his edicts.

 

In any case, it sure seems bad.

Me: Yes, it does. 

 

 

09/03 06:26 PMShare