Word: sistani
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...they seized in Najaf, Kufa and Kut, as well as the streets of the sprawling Baghdad slum of Sadr City, suggests the 30-year-old firebrand commands substantial support among the Shiite urban poor. More importantly, however, while more moderate and influential Shiite leaders such as Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani hedge their bets in response to Moqtada's challenge - calling on Shiites to refrain from violence but at the same time expressing sympathy for their grievances and condemning Coalition actions - many Shiites loyal to Sistani have nonetheless joined protest actions led by the Sadrists. The danger is that the cost...
...denounced Moqtada and his calls for violence. Others have focused their ire at Coalition responses. But the U.S. long ago recognized that the IGC has limited support among Iraqis. Far more important than the Coalition military effort eliminate the Mahdi militia will be the stance adopted by Grand Ayatollah Sistani. Even if Moqtada himself may not accept Sistani's appeals for restraint, the supreme spiritual leader is nonetheless far more influential than the young upstart. Sistani has called for calm on all sides but has criticized the Coalition's handling of Moqtada's challenge. The IGC has once again been...
...Unlike Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the supreme spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiites, Moqtada has only minor clerical status. But he has political muscle and influence derived from the heroic reputation of his forebears. Also unlike Sistani, Moqtada is a fervent advocate of the Khomeinist doctrine of "velayat al-faqi," or political rule by the clergy. His objective: to make himself the primary player in Iraqi politics...
...militant denunciation of the occupation authorities has touched a chord with many impoverished young Shiites - analysts of Shiite politics in Iraq believe Moqtada may have the support of around one-third of the community (which, as a whole comprises almost two-thirds of Iraq's population). The clerics around Sistani, and the Shiite parties on the Governing Council, see Moqtada as a dangerous hothead. But they're unlikely to align themselves with the Coalition forces against him. That's a game played by Sadr, too, who styles his movement not in opposition to Sistani, but instead as a kind...
...Sistani's unmatched influence makes him the Coalition's best bet for tamping down the Moqtada intifada. But Sistani has his own quarrels with the U.S. The ayatollah has launched a national campaign against the minority veto provisions in the U.S.-brokered interim constitution, and he continues to push for early elections. The political price for his support against Moqtada would likely be a substantial rewriting of the transition plan, which could open new conflicts with the Sunni and Kurdish communities. Even then, the outpouring of Shiite popular anger evident in last weekend's violence may be difficult for Sistani...