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Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. |
Posted on 04/10/2008 11:00:08 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
And so this idiotic saga of “did he or didn’t he,” launched by Sadr’s announcement that he’d disband the JAM if Shiite clerics told him to, reaches its absurd conclusion. Because Sistani won’t talk to the press himself, we’re left to divine his intentions from intermediaries. Surprise: Sadr’s people say he gave them the thumbs up and Sadr’s chief rivals for Shiite supremacy say he gave them the thumbs down. Sort of. The thumbs up version:
The influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said his clerical advisers, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, rejected calls to disband the Mahdi Army.
Salah al-Obaidi, the spokesman for Sadr, said the cleric issued his decision in a statement following a meeting with Sistani and Ayatollah Kazem al-Haeri in Qom, Iran.
The statement reiterated Sadr’s call for an end to the apparent politically motivated violence in Iraq by urging all parties to solve their issues through comprehensive dialogue, Voices of Iraq said.
And the thumbs down, via Bill Roggio:
Leading figure in Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council [i.e. SCIRI], Jalal el-Din al-Saghier, said on Tuesday that dissolving the al-Mahdi army is Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s responsibility, asserting that top Shiite Cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has nothing to do with this militia as al-Sadr did not consult the SIIC when he established it.
“Al-Sistani has a clear opinion in this regard; the law is the only authority in the country,” al-Saghier told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI)…
“Al-Sistani asked al-Mahdi army to give in weapons to the government,” the Shiite official said.
Whom to believe? They’re not absolutely contradictory; it’s possible that the clerics want him to disarm but will leave the disbanding up to him, although that read seems a bit overly nuanced given the politics at stake here. In which case … whom to believe? It’s worth noting that I can’t find the thumbs up version on the VOI website, although UPI’s a credible enough agency that I’ll take their word that it’s there. Even so there are still two problems. First, the source is Salah al-Obeidi, whose story seems to change by the hour: Initially he said Iraq’s Shiite clerics refused to order Sadr to disband, then he said Sadr had never asked them in the first place, now he’s claiming that Sadr did ask them and, whaddaya know, they’re on his side. Second, note that the meeting between him, Sistani, and Haeri allegedly took place in Iran. My understanding is that Sistani rarely leaves Najaf, and almost certainly wouldn’t be at the beck and call of a low-level punk like Sadr, whatever political power he may wield. He might have been in Qom on other business since it is, after all, a Shiite holy city, but I can’t find any reports on the wires about him traveling. In fact, two days ago Reuters reported that Sadr was forming a delegation to visit Sistani — in Najaf. Maybe they met and convinced him to come back with them to Iran for talk? Or maybe it’s just a big pile of Muq-brand bullshinola. Either way, sounds like he’s keeping his army.
Sistani Turns On Sadr, Joins Maliki!
AND an earlier thread:
Sadr did not refer dissolving al-Mahdi army to top Shiite clerics
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So they whole matter still seems cloudy!
If so that is good,...Maliki should swoop down and pick him up as an outlaw leader of an armed band.
Ayatollah Sistani on the Mahdi Army: “the law is the only authority in the country”
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By April 9, 2008 9:55 PM
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Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. |
With the Iraqi government applying pressure to the Sadrist movement and Muqtada al Sadr to disband the Mahdi Army, Iraq’s senior Shia cleric has weighed in on the issue. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most revered Shia cleric in Iraq, backed the government’s position that the Mahdi Army should surrender its weapons and said he never consulted with Sadr on disbanding the Mahdi Army. Instead, the decision to disband the Mahdi Army is Sadr’s to make.
Sistani spoke through Jalal el Din al Saghier, a senior leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a rival political party to the Sadrist movement. Saghier was clear that Sistani did not sanction the Mahdi Army and called for it to disarm.
"Sistani has a clear opinion in this regard; the law is the only authority in the country," Saghier told Voices of Iraq, indicating Sistani supports Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki and the government in the effort to sideline the Mahdi Army. "Sistani asked the Mahdi army to give in weapons to the government."
Sadr did not consult with Sistani on the issue of disbanding the Mahdi Army, disputing a claim from Sadrist spokesmen who intimated Iraqi’s top cleric told Sadr to maintain his militia. "The top Shiite cleric had not been consulted in establishing the Mahdi Army, so [he] could not interfere in dissolving it,” Saghier said. “Whosoever established the al-Mahdi army has to dissolve it; Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr established this army and it is only him who has to dissolve it."
Sistani’s statements are the latest in a series of moves to politically isolate the Sadrist movement and delegitimize the Mahdi Army. On March 25, the Iraqi security forces started an operation in Basrah designed to clear the city of the Mahdi Army. After meeting early resistance in Basrah and fighting broke out in Baghdad and the South, the Iraqi military rushed reinforcements to the southern city. Six days after the operation began, Sadr ordered his fighters off the street. The Mahdi Army took significant casualties while the Iraqi Army secured the southern cities of Hillah, Kut, Karbala, Najaf, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, and Amarah in days. Clashes are still ongoing in Sadr City.
On April 6, Iraq’s Political Council for National Security moved to bar the Sadrist movement from participating in upcoming provincial elections in October if it did not disband the Mahdi Army. The plan had the full backing of Sunni, Kurdish, and Shia political parties.
The move caused panic inside the Sadrist movement as their political isolation became apparent. "We, the Sadrists, are in a predicament," Hassan al Rubaie, a Sadrist member of parliament said the day the Political Council for National Security announced the plan. "Our political isolation was very clear and real during the meeting." he said, referring to the meeting of the Political Council for National Security, where the legislation was announced. "Even the blocs that had in the past supported us are now against us and we cannot stop them from taking action against us in parliament."
Next move is whose?
.....Sadr and Iran .... now have a clear problem....
Thanks for the ping, EATB. I need to follow these things closer.
Maliki, along with the US Army and Marines, is disbanding the Mahdi Army. Sistani doesn’t matter.
Just found this thread:
IRAN'S BUSTED IRAQ BID (Iran's Quds unit failed to destabilize Iraq)
I think Sistani IS needed - sorta.
If the US or the Maliki government disbands the Mahdi army, they will just reform somewhere else as long as a Cleric supports it.
If the head big cheese Cleric (that’d be Sistani) comes out against Mookie, the people in the army will accept the disarming and move along.
"Al-Sistani has a clear opinion in this regard; the law is the only authority in the country," al-Saghier told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq (VOI)... "Al-Sistani asked al-Mahdi army to give in weapons to the government," the Shiite official said.
Sadr = lying scum
The US and Maliki are forcefully disbanding the JAM. If the job is thorough and Maliki doesn’t succumb to let’s-be-nice blandishments reforming will only reselect the targets that need to be hit anyhow.
It is.
That is an interesting point and in Part I agree that, that is indeed what is happening.
I think it would make enemies of the members themselves, or their families, that will return elsewhere without their clerics leadership or whatever it is the clerics do.
But, time will tell.
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