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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (26424)	1/26/2004 5:35:58 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793843

California Insider A Weblog by Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub January 26, 2004 Opening act Dennis Miller's new chat show debuts tonight on CNBC (9 pm Pacific) and his first guest is: Arnold Schwarzenegger. These two are old friends, so don't expect Miller to be grilling the governor on the details of his fiscal recovery plan.

To: LindyBill who wrote (26424)	1/26/2004 5:51:55 PM
From: Brian Sullivan	Respond to of 793843

Powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Al-Sistani's Iranian citizenship slowly becoming an issue The newfound influence of Iraq's most prominent Shiite Muslim cleric is raising a sensitive and potentially divisive question: How did someone gain such power even though he's an Iranian? Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani has swiftly become one of Iraq's most important figures with his opposition to the U.S. blueprint for transferring power to the Iraqis by July 1. He has drawn tens of thousands of supporters out to protest the American plans, and they obey just as quickly when he asks that they stay home. Al-Sistani's supporters insist his nationality should not bar him from speaking for Iraqis, with whom he has lived for a half century. But minority Sunni Arabs, who had for generations monopolized power and suppressed the majority Shiites, have honed in on traditional suspicion of Iran to emphasize their opposition to his calls. In a thinly veiled reference to Iranians, a militant Sunni group demanded recently that voting must be delayed until all those who came to Iraq after Saddam Hussein's fall can prove they are Iraqi citizens. Such charges echo Sunni suspicions that clergy-ruled Iran wanted to see its influence spread in Iraq. A senior aide to a rival Shiite cleric says al-Sistani, as an Iranian, should stick to religious matters and not interfere in Iraqi politics. "Whatever the case, he's still an Iranian," said Abbas al-Robai, a senior aide of maverick Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. "We don't want him and other Iranian clerics thrown out of Iraq. But they should not be allowed to speak about Iraq's constitution." Al-Sistani wants a transitional legislature to be elected, rather than appointed in regional caucuses, as the Americans have proposed. The United States opposes early elections because of the security situation and lack of voter rolls, but acknowledges al-Sistani's widespread influence. The U.S.-led coalition has asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send a team to Iraq to determine if a ballot is possible. Annan still hasn't decided but is widely expected to approve a team. Iraq and Iran fought a ruinous, eight-year war in the 1980s, in which most Arab nations sided with Baghdad. Saddam, a Sunni who relentlessly accused Iran of plotting against him, deported tens of thousands of Shiites in the 1980s under the pretext that they were of Iranian origin. However, Iranians have maintained close ties to their fellow Shiites in Iraq, where the Shiite brand of Islam was born in the 7th century. Charges of Iranian interference in Iraq's affairs are widespread, with many Sunni Arabs claiming that thousands of Iranians, including security agents, have infiltrated Iraq since Saddam's ouster. Iran has denied those allegations. The silver-bearded al-Sistani, 75, disapproves of Iranian-style clerical rule. He left Iran to come to Najaf as a young seminary student more than 50 years ago and rose to prominence in post-Saddam Iraq when he issued a religious edict in June demanding that only delegates chosen in an election be allowed to draft a new Iraqi constitution. Supporters have cast his opposition as apolitical and try to draw attention away from the Iran-Iraq divide. "His eminence al-Sistani has no political ambitions or a desire to see a particular group in power," said Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of a major Shiite political party and a frequent visitor of al-Sistani. "The fact that he is an Arab or not doesn't matter," al-Hakim said. "His demands are not for the benefit of one group, but for all Iraqis." sfgate.com