This is actually quite huge and I am surprised not too many are writing about it. One of the most influential and senior Shia clerics in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has come out with calls to disarm the militia and ALL people should be loyal to the NATION, not their sects:
Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called for Iraq’s next government to dismantle the deadly militias that have pushed the country to the brink of civil war.
Sistani, perhaps the country’s most influential figure, told prime minister designate Nuri al-Maliki in a meeting at his Najaf residence that militias must be disarmed and that weapons should be in the hands of the government alone.
In the last year, the septuagenarian cleric has watched Shiite militias take up arms against the country’s Sunni minority in defiance of his repeated warnings against seeking revenge for rebel attacks.
“Weapons must be in the hands of government security forces that should not be tied to political parties but to the nation,” Sistani was quoted as saying in a statement released after his meeting with Maliki.
[...]During their meeting, the reclusive Sistani also offered a broad roadmap to Maliki for the formation of the new national unity government.
According to Sistani, “the first task for the government is fighting insecurity and putting an end to the terrorist acts that threaten innocents with death and kidnapping.”
The cleric added that the new cabinet needed “capable and honest people who have a good reputation and care about national interests, not personal, religious or sectarian interests.”
Sistani said special attention needed to be paid to fighting corruption and getting infrastructure, like water and electricity, “back up and running.”
I think Sadr will not be too happy, but with one of the most influential people in the country now calling for National pride and devotion rather then sect he will find it hard to resist.
Add in the fact that Iran has been cut at the knees with Jafari’s ouster and you get the feelings things will start to move quite quickly now:
The most important fact about Maliki’s election is that it’s a modest declaration of independence from Iran. The Iranians waged a tough behind-the-scenes campaign to keep Jafari in office. Tehran issued veiled threats to Iraqi political leaders, in written letters and through emissaries, that if they didn’t back Jafari, they would pay a price. In resisting this pressure, the political leaders were standing up for a unified Iraq. To succeed, Maliki must mobilize that desire for unity to break the power of the militias and insurgent groups.
“His reputation is as someone who is independent of Iran,” explained Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad. He explained that although Maliki initially went into exile in Iran, “he felt he was threatened by them” because of his political independence, and later moved to Syria. “He sees himself as an Arab” and an Iraqi nationalist, Khalilzad said.
[...]The Iranians “pressured everyone for Jafari to stay,” Khalilzad said. One senior Iraqi official said the gist of Iran’s letters was “stick with him, or else.” The phrasing was more subtle, including warnings that replacement of Jafari could “create instability” and damage the political prospects of those who opposed Iran’s diktat. The decisive blow came from Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who let it be known in the final days that Jafari had to go.
So we’re not talking about your normal everyday joe in Iraq. What this guy says holds a lot of clout.
Plus, look at the reaction your getting from everyday Iraqi’s about Zarqawi’s latest release:
Iraqis on Wednesday condemned terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a foreigner determined to destroy their country, saying his new video promising more attacks may have surfaced in response to the breakthrough in the formation of a unity government.
[...] Sheik Khalid al-Attiyah, the Iraqi parliament’s newly appointed first deputy speaker, said the video shows that al-Zarqawi remains determined ‘to inflame a civil war’ in Iraq. But al-Attiyah said it also indicates the insurgent leader, an outsider to many Iraqis, fears the country’s new government will unify Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
[...] “I believe that al-Zarqawi was caught off guard by the new government taking shape because it will be very strong one representing all Iraqis,” al-Attiyah said.
And the only conclusion you can come to is that EVERY Iraqi citizen, from high level religious leaders to politicians to Mr. Joe Schmoo Iraqi is getting tired of those trying to disrupt the new Democracy in Iraq.
