What Sistani Wants
Good piece in Newsweek.
Highlights: The Grand Ayatollah Sistani is an Iranian, so he was actually unable to vote in the recent Iraqi election. He has believed since he was young that a more secular regime, based somehow on Islamic law, is better than a mullocracy such as Iran has adopted. He disagreed about this issue with Khomeini, founder of the mullocracy in Iran, when they were both students.
He has been a tremendous force for moderation among the Shiites in Iraq. Many times people have come to him saying they must retaliate against violence, and he has talked them out of it. He seems to have supported American action against Sadr, when the latter young man seemed out of control. And he has directed his people: to demand an early election, and then to vote.
If things continue to go well in Iraq, Bush will no doubt take credit, but as far as I can tell the role of Sistani is dumb luck as far as Bush is concerned: he didn't expect Sistani to do so much good, or plan for it; I don't think he's ever mentioned Sistani's name. It seems unlikely that Chalabi or the neo-cons ever said Sistani would be the bedrock that a new Iraqi state would be built on. (Hence Robin Wright's observation that the "Islamic" character of the emerging Iraq must be at least a bit of a nasty shock to Bush and his brain trust).
Once again, Bush gets lucky--as he has been all his life.
One author of the Newsweek, piece, Rod Nordland, has given what amounts to a hilarious on-line interview on Iraq. I found it via Matthew Yglesias.
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