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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (48150)	3/21/2005 4:18:33 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

"If some kind of democracy takes root in Iraq, it will also be due in large measure to the instincts and directives of the Iraqi Shiite leader, Ayatollah Sistani." Ali Sistani should be given Nobel Peace Prize: New York based US daily WASHINGTON: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiites, should be given the Nobel Peace Prize for helping smoothening road toward democracy in the country, a columnist in influential New York based daily wrote. The columnist said, "If some kind of democracy takes root in Iraq, it will also be due in large measure to the instincts and directives of the Iraqi Shiite leader, Ayatollah Sistani." "It was Mr Sistani who insisted that there had to be a direct national election in Iraq, rejecting the original goofy US proposal for regional caucuses. It was Mr Sistani who insisted that the elections not be postponed in the face of insurgency. Mr Sistani brings to Arab politics a legitimate, pragmatic interpretation of Islam, one that says Islam should inform politics and the constitution, but clerics should not rule, the columnist opined. This is what I wrote in Aug, 2004 about Sistani-- Najaf 1 - Qom 0 Schism within contemporary Shi'ism August 30, 2004 iranian.com The lingering conflict in Iraq, more than a year after the end of the year, demonstrates the subtle dynamics of Iraqi Shi'ism and the extent to which it affects power brokering in the Iraqi state. By handing over the keys to the Imam Ali mosque, Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrine, Sadr was transferring the ideological legitimacy to the authentic victor of the Najaf uprising, Grand Ayatollah Sistani. To create the waves of Shi'ite sympathy necessary for the success of his revolt Sadr's strategy was to dare the Iraqi government to violate the Shrine: in effect dare them to be barbarians. In the face of that challenge, Iraqi government on one hand had to convince Sadr that they were prepared to cross that line if it meant saving the integrity of Iraq or having Sistani intervene on their behalf. The big question was will Sistani throw his weight behind beleaguered Allawi regime? Or would he call for the mass uprising that could have change the course of Iraq to exist as a unified entity. The stakes were high and so were the repercussions. Sadr overestimated the degree of protection the mosque and its proximity to the shrine afforded him, since it could be easily trespassed. His militias were not protected by any physical boundary but by a sacred one from within the sanctuary, which civilized men hesitate to cross. Mortars were fired from the courtyard of the Imam Ali Shrine by men who didn"t even fortify their positions, secure in the knowledge that they could slay men too decent to fire back. The exemplary self restraint by the forces encircling the shrine discredited Sadr's strategy to use the shrine as a shield to promote his delicate agenda of ideological grandiosity. It was a rebuke to his strategy that Shiites refused to descend on the shrine despite of his repetitive calls; a solitary call by Ali Sistani was answered by thousands of weeping Iraqis. It was significant that Grand Ayatollah Sistani, said to be under treatment in London, remained largely silent on the fighting which had engulfed his religious capital, almost as if the Pope had no comment on fighting raging through St. Peter's square. Sistani's timely stroke helped broker a deal that on surface looks a face saver for Sadr, as he and his forces were being decimated, the deal allows Sadr to be a free man despite his indictment for the murder of Khoei, for this concession he had agree to surrender the mausoleum of Imam Ali, disarmament of his militia and promise to join the mainstream Iraqi politics. Scratching the wounds a little deeper it was actually Sistani and Sadr who were fighting for the heart and soul of Shiite mainstream sympathies; it is Sistani who has emerged as winner and has emerged as the grandest of the Ayatollahs that has the power to incite popular resistance. Sadr was perfectly aware that with impending denunciation his future role in Iraqi politics was restricted, one collateral benefit from this peace deal brokered by Ali Sistani is that he has been declared a free man. The individual victory of escaping from a damning indictment aside his ideological power base has been dented and exposed. iranian.com