Barbara Plett (BBC): Coalition faces 'disappointed' Shia

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From the BBC Online
Dated Tuesday April 20

Coalition faces "disappointed" Shia
By Barbara Plett
BBC correspondent in Baghdad

Last year the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most powerful Shia religious leader, is reported to have advised his people to adopt the following approach to the new American rulers. Thank them for getting rid of Saddam Hussein, but end every conversation with a question: when will you leave?
That statement sums up the ambivalent attitude of Iraq's Shia Muslims to the US-led occupation.
It's something the Americans have had to take seriously. They know they can't govern Iraq without the acquiescence of the Shia, who make up about 60% of Iraq's 25 million citizens.
Until the recent violence such passive support was maintained by an implicit contract with the organised Shia forces, particularly Ayatollah Sistani.

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