Ayatollah 'objected to Iraq plan'

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3538361.stm

Shia politicians in Iraq are to consult their spiritual leader before agreeing to sign any new interim constitution.

Objections by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to a draft agreement are understood to be have been behind the dispute that wrecked a planned ceremony on Friday.

An elaborate event was planned to allow the Iraqi Governing Council to mark a key point in the transfer of power.

But five Shia Council members did not turn up and a rescheduled event is not expected until Monday at the earliest.

more

[NNN0LHI]

1. kick

[leftchick]

2. did you see that evil scum Dan Senor (bremer's asst.) on tv?

He was trying to be so smooth about it all saying "this is Democracy in action". What crap.

[NNN0LHI]

3. I am sure the Ayatollah will show them some Democracy in action soon n/t

[Barrett808]

4. Dancin' to the Ayatollah's tune...

...in a desperate to get re-elected.

I tell people that if the neo-cons' intention was to demonstrate our might to the world, they couldn't have failed more miserably. Every day this embarrassment continues in Iraq shows the world how weak...and defeatable...we are.

[4dsc]

5. Shia's or Shiites??

It appear the news is having a hard time telling these two groups apart.. If you read all the corporate owned news, its the Shiite's that are behind this, not the Shia?? What gives??

[Aidoneus]

7. ...

it's a term referencing the same people..
shortened from an older term Shiani 'Ali, or "Partisans of Ali". Shi'i, Shia, Shiite, Shiites, etc..

[DennisReveni]

6. Everyone should check out this guy

Dreyfuss at Tompaine.com has this to say,
http://tompaine.com/blog.cfm/ID/9942
Chalabi Power Play? link
Paul Bremer had the trappings ready to go today at 4 p.m. Baghdad time. The new Iraqi "Constitution" was all ready to be signed, and Bremer had hung the bunting. He'd "organized musicians and children dressed in various Iraqi national costumes for the signing ceremony," reports Reuters.

But Ahmad Chalabi, the secular Shiite who's suddenly rediscovered his religious roots, pulled the plug. He objected to several provisions of the delicately worded document (which, as I pointed out on Wednesday, isn't worth the paper it's not even printed on yet). In torpedoing the Constitution, Chalabi, the Pentagon's Golden Boy and leading candidate to preside over Iraq's civil war as its first president, joined Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, the Iraqi Governing Council member closest to the fatwa-man, Atayollah Ali al-Sistani, and Ibrahim Jaafari of the Dawa party, another fundamentalist group.

No doubt Bremer will try to patch things up. But it's a sign of how difficult—no, impossible—it will be to cobble together anything resembling "democracy" in the armed camp that is Iraq today. The Shiites, still reeling from the devastating bombings on Tuesday, are mobilizing their militias, not their Constitution-signing party hats.

Here's Reuters:

Hamid al-Bayati of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said five Shi'ite Governing Council members, including the SCIRI representative, had objected to aspects of the document. The Council had said on Monday that it had agreed on the interim constitution after days of heated talks.

Bayati said Shi'ite objections centered on two areas.

Firstly, they opposed a clause dealing with a planned referendum on a permanent constitution due in 2005 that says that if three provinces vote against it by a two-thirds majority, they could veto it even if a majority of Iraqis approved it. Shi'ites fear this could give minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds too much influence over the constitution.

The other objection was to the proposed structure of the presidential council, Bayati said.


Dreyfuss seems to be on the ball about what has been happening. You should go to this site abd read the back articles, very informative.

[Barrett808]

8. So it was Chalabi, not Sistani, who pulled the plug?

I'm somewhat confused.

[Crachet2004]

9. Chalabi, wanted for bank fraud in Jordan...

is simple to figure out. He is a conman. He belongs to the neocons, but talks in a big, loud voice against the Americans in general, to curry favor with Iraquis' in particular.

The US sent him in there, and the Iraquis' are supposed to be stupid enough to believe he is on their side, because of occasional anti-American comments he makes. Sheesh!

I don't think they are gonna fall for it.

And I don't think there is an Ayatollah alive, who will help the Bush Administration in any way, shape or form. Would you?

Once Kerry is president, there will be a deal cut in Iraq...but Chalabi, I doubt will be part of it.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Chalabi is a Bush stooge. He will say what he is told to say

Chalabi, "It was not the ayatollahs idea to throw a monkey wrench into Bush's plans, it was my idea...so stop saying that".

Don

[RedEarth]

11. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is calling the shots in Iraq

and not one American has ever met with him in person....pretty amazing. It's my understanding he has met with delegates from some European countries, but not Bremer or anyone else from the US.

[reprobate]

14. I've read that Sistani refuses to give any american an audience

[daleo]

12. Seems like some payback to Bushco

String them along for a while, thinking an agreement is at hand, then walk out, making them look stupid. It is an old constitutional process ploy - we have seen it many times in Canada, under much more optimistic circumstances. Bushco will probably end up forcing a constitution on them at gunpoint, to try to save face. It won't last, though.

[Disturbed]

13. Assasination

I have read that there was a close call of Sastani being assasinated. I suspect that there have been attempts at Chalabi, as well. My guess is that he will eventually be killed. The Iraqis probably hate him and view him as a traitor.

Bushco has gotten a surprise. The Sunnis and Shi'ites are not going to fight each other but they will both fight Occupation. Sastina has stated that he will issue a Fatwa to his followers to expel the Occupiers if they don't leave by July. If both the Sunnis and Shi'ites go forth with the insurgency to kick the Occupiers out of Iraq, the sheeit will really hit the fan.