Word: sistani
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...mobs drag itself back from the brink of civil war? Iraq has done so before. In the summer of 2004, when al-Sadr's fighters battled U.S. forces in several cities, Iraqi leaders warned of a potential Shi'ite insurgency. In the end, the Mahdi Army was cornered, and Sistani ordered the fighters to go home. But taking a beating from an overwhelmingly superior force of foreigners is one thing. It is hard to see either Shi'ites or Sunnis backing down from a more evenly balanced sectarian fight, if only because the burden of history makes it impossible...
...long run, because the prosaic work of governing tends to make ideological politicians more pragmatic. "Elections are just the start in his view," says a senior Administration official. It's encouraging, U.S. officials say, that powerful Muslim figures--including Iraq's most influential cleric, Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, and even some leaders of Hamas--have tried to quell the unrest over the Danish cartoons out of fear of a collapse in law and order. But even if that tames the passions unleashed over the past month, there's every reason to expect the voices of Muslim discontent to grow...
...Bush Administration. "Jaafari overplayed his hand," says an official, referring to the Prime Minister's overly friendly relations with Iran. There is a possibility that the current ruling alliance of religious Shi'ite parties will split apart. There is the probability that the Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani-the most respected religious figure in the country-will not endorse the Shi'ite slate, as he did last time, even if it holds together. There is also the assumption that the Sunnis, having participated in the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum, will become a significant political force in December (despite well-documented...
...ites overwhelmingly support the document, in part because of the instructions from the powerful Shi'ite clerical body, the merjariya, led by the venerated Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who called for a "yes" vote on the document. This was clear from talking to voters in the Shi'ite areas. However, because of security restrictions, TIME reporters were unable to visit Sunni neighborhoods where attitudes toward the constitution differed from Shi'ites'. Residents of these areas, reached by phone said there were many people in the streets ready to vote against the constitution, but these reports could not be independently...
...Nevertheless, Shi'ite voters were enthusiastic. "We are following our supreme merja, Sistani," said Jafar al-Khazali, a 29-year-old day laborer as his daughter, Sou'ad, clung to his leg. "I will not lose my rights again like before." "I am looking forward to seeing my dreams come true," said Khalida al-Bayati, a Shi'ite housewife. "I want to see my country not like it was under Saddam." Al-Bayati holds no nostalgia for the old regime, having lost a child to cancer that she blames on Saddam's use of chemical weapons...