Word: sadr
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...Moqtada, but he also recognizes that Moqtada has a considerable following among his own flock. And it will be plain for Sistani to see that his own position has weakened in the course of the siege, a widespread perception that he absented himself at Najaf's time of need. Sadr's rise has challenged the prevailing Shiite clerical order in Iraq in the way that Ayatollah Khomeini did in Iran 25 years ago, by creating an alternative center of clerical power outside of the seminary, in the kingdom of politics. One crucial difference, of course, is that Khomeini's revolution...
...political victory of Sadr's Mehdi army may only be coming into view with the resolution as orchestrated by Sistani. Najaf is in ruins, and while many of the city's residents will blame Sadr for choosing to fight there, there's little doubt that throughout Iraq and the wider Arab world the inclination will be to hold the U.S. responsible. Sadr's message of uncompromising opposition to the American presence in Iraq may resonate even more strongly...
...Media accounts usually contrast Sadr's radicalism with Sistani's moderation, and draw attention to the fact that the latter is a far more influential figure among Iraqi Shiites. But the fact that Sistani appears to have been compelled to rush back from Britain - where he was undergoing treatment for a heart condition - in order to lead a mass march on Najaf is an indicator that things are not quite that simple. The Grand Ayatollah is a strictly religious figure, whose authority is recognized and venerated - even as it is, effect, challenged to move in a more radical direction...
...Sadr's challenge occurs less in the realm of religion than in the realm of politics, where he's riding a wave of anger among the young Shiite urban poor frustrated by their lack of progress, enraged by the occupation, skeptical of the interim government and increasingly disappointed in the efforts of the traditional clergy, led by Sistani, to transform their circumstances. He's built his movement on the basis of a widening generational and social class rift among Iraqi Shiites. Sadr's challenge to both the clerical establishment and the traditional Shiite political parties is giving voice...
...Sadr has championed the poor, who have been disillusioned by the traditional clergy and the Shiite establishment. And they see little to love in the deal taking shape under Allawi and the Americans. Which means that this rebellion is likely to continue long after the Mosque is cleared. And the fact that Sistani sees fit to go to Najaf not in a U.S. helicopter or government motorcade, but at the head of a procession of Iraqi Shiites willing to march into a war zone, suggests that he's recognized the need to align himself with the wave of outrage that...