Sistani Rejects New Sunni-Shiite Coalition
6 Dead in Samawa Clashes
47 Bodies in Baghdad
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has rejected a plan for a new coalition in the Iraqi parliament that would ally the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq with the Sunni Arab Iraqi Islamic Party and the Kurdistan Alliance. The plan aimed at isolating the 32 Sadrist members of parliament and depriving them of the ability to bring down the prime minister. The Sadrists follow young Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army paramilitary has emerged as a major security threat to Baghdad.
A delegation of mainly Da`wa Party members went to the Grand Ayatollah about the plan, floated by friendly rival SCIRI. Sistani rejected the plan on the grounds that it would split the Shiite majority. A coalition of Sunni Arab fundamentalists and Kurds with SCIRI would reduce the Shiites to junior partners in the government and allow the Kurds (also Sunnis) and the Sunni Arabs to dictate policy to them. Shiites are 60 percent of Iraqis, and Sistani is insistent that their majoritarian position be recognized and they receive the consequent power and influence.
Sistani's rejection of the plan, however, essentially continues to empower the Sadrists, who were let into the Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, about a year ago and who thereby gained pivotal power within it, going on to help elect the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki. Sistani seems more worried about Shiite-on-Shiite violence and political rivalry than he is about Shiite conflicts with Sunnis.
Negotiations between the UIA and Sadrist deputies about coming back in to an active role in the alliance and in parliament proved inconclusive on Saturday, according to al-Sharq al-Awsat in Arabic. One stumbling block is that the Sadrists want a timetable to be set for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, whereas the top leaders of the UIA are reluctant to press the US on this front. The Sadrists had suspended their participation because of PM al-Maliki's recent meeting with Bush.
Sistani's veto puts Abdul Aziz al-Hakim in a difficult position. He is a relatively junior cleric and mainly a politician, and does not have the standing openly to repudiate a ruling from Sistani. On the other hand, Sistani depends heavily for his security on the Badr Corps of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which al-Hakim leads. Still and all, it would be a major change in power dynamics in Iraqi religious politics if al-Hakim defied Sistani on this matter. He would risk losing face if a significant number of UIA MPs declined to join him in this defiance.
http://www.juancole.com/2006/12/sistani-rejects-new-sunni-shiite.html
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