Bushtani

The role of Sistani in the current clashes between Iraqis and the occupying forces is very suspicious and annoying, at least from my point of view.

Sistani is one of, if not the most, popular Shia leaders in the world. They call him "moqallad" which means that Shia take him as an example of how to think and behave.

I don't want to discuss his previous positions, which I see as extremely pro-occupation and far from a national stand, but the U.S. administration worked on exaggerating his importance and influence as if he was THE Iraqi political leader. Sistani is a religious leader that shouldn't have been given the chance of filling the political gap in Iraq.

When the silly Iraqi government decided some days ago to send a delegation to Najaf to stop the bloodshed, they had a clear plan proposed by Husien AsSadr (a relative yet a non-supporter to Moqtada). This plan proposed that the Mahdi Army should leave the Shrine of Imam Ali without leaving the city, and it included a request of deassembling the Mahdi Army and converting it to a political party. AsSadr, being pragmatic as usual, accepted the proposal because he wants to enter the Iraqi political Agora and he knows that deassembling his army is nothing more than a spoken word. How can anyone deassemble an army with no hierarchy and using personal small weapons? But anyway, he said yes. The U.S. administration wanted to give Sistani a small post-surgery gift by letting him act the role of Mr. Wise and stop the fight.

Whether he is doing that on propose or not, AsSistani is the man of occupation in Iraq. The occupation forces and government will do their best to protect him and increase his influence by polishing his public image. The "10 million Shia march" that Sistani asked Iraqis to do is nothing more than flexing muscles and proving that he is as worried about Najaf as any other Iraqi.

AsSadr asked his followers to march to Najaf too, to invest the step as much as he can, and to give a fake feeling that AsSadr and AsSistani are on the same side. Both of them know they are on the opposite sides, and both of them act in a diplomatic way.

The main four Shia leaders in Iraq are having more distinguished and different positions by the time. AsSadr being anti-U.S. anti-occupation and having real chances of gaining political victories depending on his popularity, AlJafari being pro-U.S. yet anti occupation, taking the position of the vice president and having good popularity, AsSistani being pro-U.S. yet not categorizing him self as a politician, and AlHakim having no influence after the death of his brother.

Let's hope that nothing will start an Iraqi-Iraqi war.
Let's just hope.

I wish I could use some dirty words here to describe how I feel, but I will just quote the poor man while he was trying to control himself.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

"You cannot speak about a team that represents freedom. We do not have freedom in Iraq, we have an occupying force. This is one of our most miserable times," he said.
"Freedom is just a word for the media. We are living in hard times, under occupation."