Ayatollah Sistani: Occupiers Should Leave Iraq

[UpInArms]

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=8/22/2004&Cat=4&Num=018

TEHRAN (MNA) -- Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is seriously worried about the ongoing conditions in the holy city of Najaf and has said that the occupiers should leave Iraq, his aide said on Saturday.

Ayatollah Sistani has strongly condemned the desecration of holy sites, the bloodshed, and the insecurity in Najaf and made great efforts through Iraqi officials to stop the occupation forces’ attack on the city, Hojjatoleslam Shahrestani told the ISNA news agency.

The grand ayatollah expressed hope that the Iraqi interim government and Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr would respect the agreements they have reached so that the situation at the shrine of Imam Ali (AS) and in the rest of the city can return to normal and the lives of innocent people can be protected, Shahrestani said.

Sistani is determined to return to Najaf immediately in order to play a more active role in efforts to solve the people’s problems and rid the city of the shadows of occupation, he added.

...more...

[Kagemusha]

1. Looks like the adult is back to spank the kids into shape.

Sadr's surviving this is going to make him look like a very cunning (if not brilliant) man in years to come.

[JNelson6563]

2. BushCo isn't going to like this

Not one bit.

[mom cat]

3. Good. I hope it sticks in his craw like a dry pretzel.

[leftchick]

4. make that an Extra-Dry.....

:evilgrin:

[0007]

5. I hope The Grand Ayatollah is good and pissed at what's

happening to the people of Iraq.


Will the U.S. label Ali Sistani as a hot headed radical?

[UpInArms]

7. I imagine that when these planes "miss" and bomb that mosque

we are going to be in an even bigger mess (if that is possible)

Fire Blazes in Najaf After Blasts

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6036047

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - A large fire blazed in Najaf in Iraq Saturday after a series of blasts and gunfire as a U.S. military plane circled overhead, a Reuters witness said.

It was not clear what caused the fire which appeared to be on the south side of the sacred city where militants loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are holed up in the Imam Ali shrine and under siege by U.S. forces.

...a bit more...

[jimshoes]

8. Meet your newest bad guy Radical Shiite Cleric

Sistani

[stellanoir]

6. ackt-hem. . .'scuse me

He, the most moderate voice of the Shia with whom we should have been negotiating from the get go, has just requested that we leave.

In Boston, during the DNC I made aquaintance with a devout follower of his. He said all it would take is one word from Sistani, to rebel against the occupation and Ka Boom.

Al Sadr had a few thousand followers before we so foolishly shut down his paper who scarcely had any readers. He was relatively unknown. His only claim to fame was having had a famous father who was martyred in '99.

Our idiocies have catapulted him to folklore status and won him the devotion of droves of young men who were rendered as unemployable because we couldn't trust Iraqi's enough to drive trucks or provide security. Instead we the taxpayers, have been paying unscrupulous mercenaries, a whopping $120,000 a year to provide basic services, when we could have hired the locals for a small fraction of that fee.

Instead we've consistantly spurred on their anger and resentment.

Al Sistani has been the voice of reason over there since all of this foolishness started. If he's telling us to leave, we'd better damn well pay attention.

[Disturbed]

10. al Sistani

He has been patient. It seems that his patience is wearing thin. If he comes out with a stronger insistence that the Occupation cease, the Iraqi colonization efforts by the USA Admin. will be in dire straits. Al Sadr has gained much popularity but al Sistani is the power that most Shi'ites will follow. In my view, he is the one person in Iraq that could be the unifying leader although he seems reluctant to take on the offcial role. That he may be reluctant is even a more compelling reason that he should be asked by his followers to step up and take the the role.

Al Sistani may take the role upon his return. If he does, the US Neo Fascists may as well start the withdawel process.

[Mari333]

9. Yes, we should leave..we shouldnt have been there at all

http://www.bringthemhomenow.com

[thebigidea]

11. I guess he's a "firebrand cleric" now

say goodbye to your obligatory "moderate" label, Al.

[demgrrrll]

12. Juan Cole wrote today about this issue. We have really stirred up

a hornet's nest.

[gulfcoastliberal]

13. Sistani is on the US payroll

Hence his leaving Najaf for the 1st time in 6 years so the US could finish of Sadr and his Mahdi Army - which is just a minor faction that Sistani would just as soon dissapear. Permanently. When Sistani left, he was giving an implicit green light for US forces to rout Sadrs militia, even if they were holed up in the most sacred Shia place. There's reason the whole country hasn't rioted at the fact that we shell the famous cemetary and town at will. It's because Sistani doesn't mind.

Saying the occupiers "should" leave and actually issuing a Fatwa or whatever are two very different things. Almost sounds like a Rovian press release to me. Politics as usual. We'll see what happens. Maybe he's demanding a raise.

[MetaTrope]

14. "Sistani is determined to return to Najaf immediately"

But his room next door to Aristide in South Africa is ready now...

[Disturbed]

15. gulfcoastliberal

Please post proof of your claims.

[The Magistrate]

16. He Has No Proof Of Them, Sir

They do not seem to me to be true. My own surmise as to the reason for the Ayatollah's conveniently timed medical excursion is that some question existed as to whether, in a pinch with U.S. soldiers in the streets near the shrine, his followers would obey any call from him to isolate Mr. al'Sadr. His absence punts this sticking point down the road. It will surely come in time.

Perhaps Mr. Aidoneus will be able to provide some insights into the matter; he is formidably well informed on such matters.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Disturbed]

17. Credibility.

Of course, I have no proof of my views but I do not claim them as facts, merely suppositions. The clam that al Sistani is a paid servant of the US is an astonishing one and I suspect that it is a false claim but am not ruling that out. Politics is ever surprising. I am curious about the situation regarding Iraq, especially today because I just read the account of the 1st Gulf War in the "People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. There are amazing similarities in the run up to the 1st situation and the second one. I believe that the US colonization effort will be a failure.