Word: ayatullah
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Your article "Iraq's Shadow Ruler" [Oct. 25], on Islamic Shi'ite leader Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, stated, "The version of democracy [the U.S.] went to war to create in Iraq may not be the one it gets. To achieve a stable, free Iraq, there's no going around the power--and preferences--of ... Sistani." I doubt, however, that Sistani would ever cooperate with a pro-U.S. regime in Iraq. After all, your story quoted the cleric as telling citizens to ask the Americans they meet, "When are you leaving Iraq?" CHRISTOPHER RUSHLAU Mosul, Iraq...
...Waiting in the Wings Your article "Iraq's Shadow Ruler" [Oct. 25], on Islamic Shi'ite leader Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, stated: "The version of democracy [the U.S.] went to war to create in Iraq may not be the one it gets. To achieve a stable, free Iraq, there's no going around the power?and preferences?of ... Sistani." I doubt, however, that Sistani would ever cooperate with a pro-U.S. regime in Iraq. After all, your story quoted the cleric as telling citizens to ask the Americans they meet, "When are you leaving Iraq?" Christopher Rushlau Mosul...
Sistani's personal history would be interesting but unimportant if the U.S. had not invaded Iraq. The fall of Saddam left the country in chaos, with a power vacuum at the top. The Shi'ite masses naturally looked to Sistani for direction, says Shahristani, and the ayatullah felt compelled by religious duty to step in. "He believes at a crisis time like this, the marja must guide the people," says al-Qurayshi. So the cleric who had shied away from politics all his life began to issue fatwas of profound political importance...
...political operations but are not individually popular, a way to stay in power. Blackwill, says a well-placed U.S. official, "created the idea to counter Sistani's power." Blackwill's office claims that while he was developing the plan, some Iraqis hit on the same idea "independently." But the ayatullah has indicated he disapproves of the unified slate. "He's afraid the way the voting is being set up, the Shi'ites might be cheated out of their majority," says Michigan's Cole. The system has also encouraged the curious alliance of the religious al-Sadr and the secular Ahmad...
...last thing Washington wants is to help someone like al-Sadr rise to power. "Sistani's the most moderate ayatullah in sight," says a Western diplomat in Baghdad, "and the U.S. needs to see eye to eye with him on basic political steps." That means the Bush Administration may have to accept that the version of democracy it went to war to create in Iraq may not be the one it gets. To achieve a stable, free Iraq, there's no going around the power--and preferences--of Grand Ayatullah Sistani. --With reporting by the Iraqi staff of TIME/Najaf, Massimo...