| #9 This is the payoff for SCIRI and Dawa agreeing to take him on their list, with a more prominent role. SCIRI and Dawa on the other hand, needed Muqtys support, since Sistani is being less supportive, and the more secularist Shiites, like Chalabi, are abandoning the UIA slate. So they need each other - the question is how well will UIA (SCIRI-Dawa-Muqty) do in December? In January they got 48% of the vote - but that was with Sistani's support, and with the secularists on board, and with few Sunnis voting. OTOH, theyve had months to establish patronage machines all over the southern provinces. My guess is they get 30 to 40% of the vote in December. |
A cleric close to Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has called on Iraqis to unite and fight al-Qaida during prayers being held to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr Iraqis must "unite to fight terrorism and to get rid of people like al-Qaida," said the cleric Hazem al-Araji. These groups "sometimes act in the name of Ansar as-Sunna (partisans of the Sunnis), but they are enemies of the Sunnis,â he said on Thursday. "You who call yourselves Qaida al-Jihad (base of the holy war), you are the base of apostasy," he said, referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group. Since Saturday, at least 71 people have been killed in bombing attacks on Shia Muslim targets.