The Grand Ayatollah
posted in General |THE GRAND AYATOLLAH
He goes by the name of Ali Sistani, and he is the Grand Ayatollah of the Iraqi Shiite Muslims. He could well be the most dangerous man in the near term future of the USA.
There are three distinct groups of people in Iraq — the Shiite Muslims, the Sunni Muslims, and the Kurds. They don't much like each other ( a great understatement) and all three have decades or centuries of scores to settle. The Shiites, who were massacred, tortured and persecuted by Saddam (a Sunni Muslim), constitute 60% of the Iraqi population and are stomping at the bit for elections — now. Never mind about a constitution, the rule of law, voter registration, honest vote counting and all of those niceties — elections now. Their religious honcho, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, is at the head of the pack.
The US and the Coalition countries want a pluralistic government based on a well constructed constitution serving as the foundation of a democratic secular State. Ali Sistani sees a Muslim Theocracy beholden only to the Koran. The great concern is that if the Shiites gain power without controls on government excess, a religion based civil war in Iraq is very possible. While many Iraqis see a democratic future, the Shiites see “payback” time – with a lot of scores to settle. If the US stays several more months to allow time for the formation of a government and supervised elections, the pot could boil over. On the other hand, if we leave Iraq too soon and turn the country over to the Shiites, it could easily become another Middle East blood bath in short order. They will not be gentle to their tormentors. We are walking a tightrope.
I don't disagree with the decision to go into Iraq and topple Saddam. Time was not on our side. It was the right call. And the second guessers from Kerry on down are doing us no favors with their “split and go” comments. War is a messy business that always has to deal with Murphy's Law. i.e., “if anything can go wrong, it will”. And we will always have to deal with those possibilities. Since John Kerry is all wrapped up with the UN and and an International force to intervene in Iraq, I wish George Bush would appoint him as the Major Domo for Internationalization, and say “Go gettem, John – show us how”. Better yet, maybe he can have a chat with Ayatollah Ali Sistani and tell him to cool it.
When a guy voted for the War Resolutuion and now says “I didn't mean it”, I can't give him a lot of respect. But Kerry is not my main worry. Ayatollah Ali Sistani is.