Top Shi'ite cleric says no to US plans for Iraq

[DuctapeFatwa]

Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has hardened his opposition to US plans for a transitional government, six months before the planned transfer of power.

Unrest continued in the British-run south of the country as several hundred Shi'ite Iraqis hurled stones at British soldiers in anger over the killing of six people when police and coalition forces sprayed gunfire at armed men hidden in a demonstration.

Meanwhile, the interim Iraqi Governing Council unveiled guidelines for purging members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from government and vowed also to rid business and trade unions of the influence of the old regime.

Ayatollah Sistani rejected a fresh entreaty by the Governing Council to endorse US plans to set up a provisional government without elections, upping the stakes as Iraq moves toward sovereignty in six months.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/

[acmavm]

1. It's just my opinion but I don't think that Iraqis will ever endorse

anything that comes from the "governing council". Not now, not ever. And once we are out of there, our handpicked ruling elite better book plane tickets (especially Chalabi) because they will be seen as collaborators, a lot like some French people were after WWII.

I may be wrong, and from a humanitarian standpoint it is only right to hope that I am. But I most certainly don't think so.

[Barrett808]

2. Yes, whatever rickety structure the neo-con mob erects

will collapse of its own weight immediately after the troop drawdown.

[heidler]

3. We might as well get the withdrawl over with now.

Democracy!! LOL

[0007]

6. Oh, I think you are so right.

The Iraqis have no respect for Ahmed Chalabi, especially since the U.S. armed him and his thugs to the teeth.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. It looks like

the "honeymoon" with the Shiite south is just about over. I'm looking for things to begin getting really ugly there fairly soon.

I think they were only giving cooperation a try because they thought it might enable them to enact there own agenda for the country. They're now realizing that it isn't going to happen. Now the next chapter begins.

It would be almost entertaining if it wasn't so sad, and so tragically unneccesary.

[NeoConsSuck]

5. You got that right, crunchyfrog

The only thing keeping the south compliant is the Shiite hope that they will be a majority rule over Iraq. And if they lose that hope, hell is going to break loose, and the NeoCons lose Iraq. It's that simple.

The NeoCons never wanted the Shiites to rule Iraq. To have both Iran & Iraq ruled by Shiites is not something the NeoCons envisioned.

So now it looks like their "Made in the U.S.A" council isn't earning any rave reviews in the south either.