Word: sistani
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Because he has refused to meet with journalists and U.S. officials, the Bush Administration has had a hard time figuring out Sistani's game plan. But many Administration officials are hopeful his role will be positive. Washington is already grateful that the ayatullah, while refusing to endorse the occupation, urged his followers to cooperate with the Americans early on. Says a senior U.S. intelligence official: "Sistani can prove to be one of the bigger forces for stability." A State Department official, on the other hand, says: "I am skeptical that anyone really understands what Sistani's about." The world...
...Sistani does have detractors among Shi'ites who argue that as an Iranian, he does not represent Iraqis. Some characterize his quietist approach as cowardly. Chief among Sistani's rivals is outspoken cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has built a following among poor, urban Shi'ites by calling on them to resist the U.S. occupation...
...July 1 deadline for handing power to an Iraqi provisional government. The leaders of Iraq's Shiite majority have rejected the U.S. plan to select such a government at regional caucuses controlled by its handpicked Iraqi Governing Council. Instead, the country's most powerful spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has demanded democratic elections, and rather than put itself at odds with a pro-democracy movement among Iraq's majority community, Bremer has sought to accommodate the ayatollah's objections. Sistani's demand, backed by tens of thousands of demonstrators in Iraq's major cities in recent weeks, has prompted...
...says elections can't be held by summer, the Shiites will insist on something substantially more democratic than Bremer's caucus plan. Sistani wants elections to ensure that the Shiites finally achieve political influence commensurate with their majority status. Ever since Iraq was first created in the mapping rooms of the British Foreign Office, its Shiites - and Kurds - have been ruled by the Sunni Arab minority. Coalition officials believe one of the factors fueling indigenous support for the insurgency is the Sunni minority's fear of losing its traditional privileges. Accommodating Sunni concerns, as well as the crypto-secessionist demands...
...Bremer's problems are magnified by the binary nature of the conflicts he faces: Each move to accommodate Sistani is greeted with anger by the Sunni and Kurdish representatives on the IGC; each indication of a concession to Kurdish demands raises hackles among Shiite and Sunni leaders. Confronted by an increasingly complex array of political choices in Iraq, the Bush administration is reportedly divided over how best to proceed. Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly favor dispensing with the caucus plan to hand over power directly to the Governing Council, expanding its Shiite representation...