Word: clerics
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...most powerful political factions in Iraq would prefer to see U.S. forces leave sooner rather than later. Maliki's Shi'ite-dominated government and security forces have faced down their biggest foe, the Mahdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. And Sadr's movement, which remains a political force in Iraq, was the first of the Shi'ite groups to agitate for a U.S. withdrawal. Only two camps in Iraq remain uneasy about seeing U.S. troops move offstage over the next 18 months - the minority Sunnis, who remain fearful of a revival of sectarian violence against them...
...lynchpin of the government's effort to defuse the Taliban insurgency is Sufi Mohammed, a septuagenarian Islamist cleric whose Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law has returned to Swat with the backing of the authorities. "We will ask them to lay down their weapons," Mohammed says of the local Taliban. "We are hopeful that they won't turn us down." Mohammed's credibility with the militants is based on the fact that he waged his own violent campaign for Shari'a law in the area in the mid-1990s; he also fought alongside the Taliban when U.S. forces invaded...
...from his action against the militias. In Basra, messages of national unity played better than did religious or sectarian appeals. "We have a new breed of politicians who can take Basra into a new phase," says Emad al-Battat, representative to Basra of Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric, Sayyed Ali al-Sistani. "The fact that Iraqis chose secular politicians over religious ones does not mean Iraq has become any less religious. But the top priority of the Iraqi people is national unity." He adds, "The politicians made promises. Now they have to walk the walk...
...Tehran Khatami Makes a Comeback Former two-term Iranian President Mohammed Khatami announced that he plans to run again, in upcoming elections scheduled for June. The liberal leader and respected cleric was criticized for his inability to follow through on his reformist agenda while in office. Khatami said he considers running against the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a "duty," claiming that drastic political changes are needed to prevent further harm to Iran's economy and international image...
...militias; in Basra, messages of national unity played better with the electorate than did religious or sectarian appeals. "We have a new breed of politicians who can take Basra into a new phase," says Emad al-Battat, the representative to Basra of Iraq's most senior Shi'a cleric, Sayyed Ali al-Sistani. "The fact that Iraqis chose secular politicians over religious ones does not mean Iraq has become any less religious. But the top priority of the Iraqi people is national unity...