LIBERTY'S AYATOLLAH:

Behind Iraq politicians, an ayatollah holds sway: Shi'ite cleric's views shadow elections (Thanassis Cambanis, December 7, 2005, Boston Globe)

The recent traffic to the doorstep of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in this southern shrine city should remove any doubt about who is really the most powerful man in Iraq.

Shi'ites make up Iraq's majority, and an alliance of Islamist Shi'ites -- many with ties to Iran -- dominates the current government in no small part because Sistani told Shi'ites to vote for the alliance in January.

Since then, Shi'ite politicians in the salons of power, and the faithful on the streets alike, have been turning to Najaf to seek Sistani's orders on nearly everything, from the drafting of the constitution this summer to campaign strategy for the Dec. 15 national parliamentary elections and even how people should vote.

Iraq's Shi'ite clerics repeatedly emphasize that they reject the approach of Iran's ayatollahs, who dominate almost every aspect of politics and society. [...]

Even Sistani loyalists are confounded by the clerics' all-encompassing influence. Dabagh, the independent Shi'ite candidate, said he regularly visits the grand ayatollah and seeks his counsel for all major political decisions. But he says politicians need to act independently once they're in office, and not consult Sistani ''on every small point" as they did during constitutional negotiations last summer. He said Sistani's attention to detail should not be misread as an attempt by the cleric to make political decisions himself.

''His eminence is not giving any ideas of whom to employ or whom to nominate in the government," he said. ''The most important thing which I look at as a positive thing is that he wants to give liberty for Iraqis."

The manifest failures of Khomeinism are a boon to the Iraqis.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 7, 2005 9:35 AM