[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

"This claim that holy sites have been damaged is not true at all," opposition figure, Sayyid Abd al-Majid al-Kho'i, told IRNA from Najaf by telephone.

Gee, how outstanding.......one truthful Muslim!

[Paradox]

Gee, how outstanding.......one truthful Muslim!

I wonder if these guys are treated there the same way a Black Conservative is treated here in the US...

[thoughtomator]

Amazing what a man will say when his family is no longer hostage to a tyrant, isn't it?

[InspiredPath1]

You wrote ...

Gee, how outstanding.......one truthful Muslim!

Actually quite true. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a lengthy op-ed piece on this particular Imam. (by Amir Taheri titled "Shiite Schism")

This Imam is the primer inter pares among Shiite clerics. He issued the very first "Pro-US" fatwa, urging his followers to cooperate with the "liberators - the coalition forces". He said "a free Iraq shall be a living monument to our people's friendship with it's liberators."

This Imam is not well liked in Iran. He actively preaches seperation of church and state. He opposes the idea of clerics ruling as politicians - a philosophy which is at odds with Iran's clerics. Now that Najaf, Shia's most holy city, has been freed, he will have more reeligious power than the ayatollah's of Iran.

He has followers all over the Shia muslim world, a great deal of them in Irann - who are opposing Iran's clergy rule. He is a man who should be cultivated by the U.S.