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Shiite clerics emerging as key power brokers in Iraq: Report
Washington, Dec 02: Shiite clerics, speaking for the Shia population of Iraq which constitutes 60 per cent of the population but which was kept out of power ever since Iraq`s creation by the Sunni minority, are now emerging are key power brokers in that country, according to a media report.
Washington, Dec 02: Shiite clerics, speaking for the Shia population of Iraq which constitutes 60 per cent of the population but which was kept out of power ever since Iraq's creation by the Sunni minority, are now emerging are key power brokers in that country, according to a media report.
This new development is making the occupying power, the US, uncomfortable as the grand ayatollahs' vision of Iraq has elements of the Islamic state in it while the Americans want a secular state in which all - non-Arab Kurds, Sunnis, Christians and other minorities will feel comfortable.
"Shiite clerics," the 'Washington Post' said today, "have emerged in the vacuum left by former president Saddam Hussein's destruction of civil society. They have become the most influential figures in the country today. In a process both abetted and opposed by the US administraion, the elderly (Shiite) clerics in Najaf have begun sketching out for the first time in decades the sharply contested role of Islam in the country's political life."
By far the most influential among them is grand Ayatollh Ali Sistani, a once-reticent cleric who has taken on a far more activist role since the US occupation.
This weekend, he made public his opposition to key elements of a us plan for political transition in Iraq, demanding elections to decide the composition of the interim government which will take office by next June end instead of being appointed by the Americans.
The Shiite clerics "are gaining momentum now," said Wamid Nadhme, a Political Science Professor in Baghdad University.
Bureau Report
"Shiite clerics," the 'Washington Post' said today, "have emerged in the vacuum left by former president Saddam Hussein's destruction of civil society. They have become the most influential figures in the country today. In a process both abetted and opposed by the US administraion, the elderly (Shiite) clerics in Najaf have begun sketching out for the first time in decades the sharply contested role of Islam in the country's political life."
By far the most influential among them is grand Ayatollh Ali Sistani, a once-reticent cleric who has taken on a far more activist role since the US occupation.
This weekend, he made public his opposition to key elements of a us plan for political transition in Iraq, demanding elections to decide the composition of the interim government which will take office by next June end instead of being appointed by the Americans.
The Shiite clerics "are gaining momentum now," said Wamid Nadhme, a Political Science Professor in Baghdad University.
Bureau Report