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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Sistani Games Continue: Constitution Bad; UN Envoys have cooties |
| 2004-03-23 |
| Top Iraq cleric says he’ll skip sit-downs with U.N. envoys Tuesday, March 23, 2004 BY ANTHONY SHADID WASHINGTON POST BAGHDAD -- Iraq’s most powerful Shi’a Muslim cleric intensified his opposition to the country’s interim constitution in a letter released yesterday, threatening to boycott meetings with U.N. envoys who are expected to help chart the transition from American occupation if the constitution is endorsed by the U.N. Security Council. Many fear that if he holds his breath too long, he’ll turn pink. The threat by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani marked another dramatic assertion of the reclusive, 73-year-old cleric’s authority in the attempts to fashion a political arrangement after the U.S. administration of Iraq ends June 30. While Sistani already has made clear his objections to the interim constitution, the letter was forceful in questioning its legitimacy, demanding that it be amended and warning of the consequences of not revising a document praised by its supporters as the most liberal in the Arab world. I’m in charge! I am the powerbroker in Iraq! Kiss my ring! The letter, which was dated Friday and bore the stamp of Sistani’s office in the sacred Shi’a city of Najaf, said flaws in the constitution "will lead to a dead end and bring the country into an unstable situation and perhaps lead to its partition and division." ...more... Love those Holy guys. They’re so reasonable and rational. There’s even a rumor that one or two have traveled outside ancient times, but one can never be sure of such wild-eyed assertions. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #5 Agreed, LH. Those are ways for him to lose face a bit. Let him figure out why he's not there. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-3-23 3:37:18 PM |
| #4 At this point with the Trans admin law already signed, i think it may be time to be a tad firmer with Sistani. I dont share dot coms view, but I think he does live too isolated from the day to day political realities that even his own allies face, and that our previous concessions to him, though justified on the face of it, may have given him an overinflated idea of his own influence. Its time to take him down a notch - in particular by ignoring him on this issue with regard to the Constitution and the UNSC res. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-3-23 2:48:13 PM |
| #3 Sack party time! |
| Posted by: Hyper 2004-3-23 10:08:28 AM |
| #2 He looks like a nut--just like the Ayatollah Khomeini did. And I think this Sistani dude is "All turban and no jihad." The interim constitution is already signed and Sistani ain't on the council. As for the UN, I think that Koffi and his gang are about as popular with Iraqis as they are with Americans. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-3-23 6:24:38 AM |
| #1 You MUST check out the little icon-sized pic of Sistani available now on Google World News. Hurry before they change it. 'Tis the Look of 100% Self-Absorbtion. There's nobody home, folks - this guy is gone. Bigger version if you click it... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-3-23 5:50:31 AM |