A strong political debate is being waged in Baghdad on the role the Shiite supreme religious authority in Najaf, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, played in negotiations between Iraq and the US on a memorandum of security.Al Sistani insisted on including a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces.
This intervention by Al Sistani has brought to the fore the differences between the major political parties in the Iraqi government.
The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council led by Abdul Aziz Al Hakim has accepted Al Sistani's demand for a definite timetable for the withdrawal of US forces in Iraq. But the position of the mainly Sunni Iraqi Accord Front and the Kurdish bloc was that the subject of withdrawals was not to be raised in the current negotiations, Kurdish political sources told Gulf News.
Mahmoud Othman, leader of the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan, told Gulf News: "The Political Council for National Security, which includes the major political blocs in the country, had agreed not to press for a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces, but it seems the call by Al Sistani is the crucial one to determine the progress of the negotiations with the Americans."
In some Shiite neighbourhoods in Baghdad people have written slogans on walls reading: "Sistani is the national independence hero".
Resentment
Al Sistani's intervention has caused resentment among some political parties and the Kurds. They feel vital political decisions need to be made by political parties and not clergy.
Al Sistani's position was totally opposed to that of the Kurds who support the long-term presence of the American military.
A spokesman for Al Sistani said, however, he did not interfere with the details of the agreement such as a specific timetable. All he did was to call on the Iraqi Government to commit itself to the principle of sovereignty and national independence in any agreement with the Americans, the leader of the Shiite Islamic Council, Hamid Muala Al Saedi, told Gulf News.
Sources in Najaf told Gulf News Al Sistani told national security advisor Muwaffaq Al Rubaie when the latter visited him days ago that Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki must remember that the national independence of Iraq should be non-negotiable in Iraqi-US talks.
But Iraqi political parties opposed to Iranian influence in Iraq were angered at Al Sistani's attempt to influence the Government. They accused Iran of interfering in the Iraqi-US talks through Al Sistani.
Political researcher Amjad Hussain told Gulf News Iran has a "dangerous" denominational influence on Shiite religious authorities in Iraq.