Word: sistani
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...strong clerical influence in the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance list may well be alienating more secular Shiites. Still, the more widely held view is that the best Allawi can hope for is a good second-place showing behind the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance list backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. But the Guardian notes even a second-place finish could see Allawi keep the prime minister's job. That's because some Shiite leaders are now suggesting it may be a poisoned chalice, and that their own leaders should only be put forward once a new constitution is in place...
...issue may yet be revisited, however. On the one hand, a U.S. pullout would leave a new government at the mercy of an insurgency growing in size and capability. On the other hand, as Juan Cole notes, key leaders of the UIA see a U.S. withdrawal as essential. One Sistani aide, for example, urged the Sunnis to participate on the grounds that an elected government would have "the ability to demand that the Occupying powers depart from Iraq, supporting this stance by their popular legitimacy." Such a call may yet figure in attempts by a new government to broker...
...even as President Bush claimed vindication for his Iraq strategy in the spectacle of millions of Iraqis braving terror and intimidation to go to the polls, the real author of Sunday's election -Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani - confined himself to a simply thanking voters for turning out, and expressing regret that his own Iranian birth prevented him from joining them. It may be easily forgotten in the post-election spin that Sunday's vote was not the Bush administration's idea-quite the contrary. The U.S. had never intended for Iraqis to democratically choose the body that would write their...
...Initially, the plan had been to hand power to returning exiles after toppling Saddam Hussein. When the exiles proved too unpopular, the U.S. then sought to have its handpicked Iraqi Governing Council write the new constitution. Even after the IGC proved incapable, the Bush administration consistently rejected Sistani's demand for democratic elections. Instead, U.S. administrator J. Paul Bremer proposed, that a constitution-making body be appointed by a series of caucuses comprising handpicked elites around the country. Sistani was having none of it. He insisted on democratic elections, used his influence among Shiites on the Governing Council to block...
...Sistani's victory...