Thursday, May 22, 2008

Powerful Iraqi Cleric Flirting With Shiite Militant Message

From Yahoo News:

BAGHDAD - Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad.

The edicts, or fatwas, by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani suggest he seeks to sharpen his long-held opposition to American troops and counter the populist appeal of his main rivals, firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

But — unlike al-Sadr's anti-American broadsides — the Iranian-born al-Sistani has displayed extreme caution with anything that could imperil the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Read more ....

My Comment: This is an ominous warning. Shiite politics .... especially when the clergy are involved .... is a terrible mix. I remembered how Ayatollah Khomeini was profiled before the Iranian revolution. While staying in exile in France, he was both demurred and contemplative. When going back to Iran and interviewed by ABC's Peter Jennings, he continued with this same distant altitude. When back in Iran and in control, everything about his character changed. He became what he always was .... an extreme religious zealot who believed he was God's representative on earth.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani exhibits these same traits. He is quiet now because he is not in a position to challenge the central authority nor the coalition forces. This of course does not stop him from privately passing fatwas that express his true intentions, and to position himself for he eventual American departure.

Is he another version of Ayatollah Khomeini .... that is an answer that I do not know. But we should all be very wary of him. Another Islamic Revolution in the Middle East and the hate that it will spread is our worse nightmare.

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