Al-Sistani returning, urges march on Najaf

[NeoConsSuck]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/25/iraq.main/index.html

NAJAF, Iraq (CNN) -- Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani will return to Iraqi on Wednesday and is asking all Iraqis to "march to Najaf in order to rescue the city," according to a spokesman for al-Sistani in his Damascus, Syria, office.

Al-Sistani, one of Iraq's most influential Shia leaders, had been receiving medical treatment in London.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have been fighting the militia loyal to renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr around the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, a holy Shia city. Al-Sistani has been indirectly involved in peace negotiations.

[Born Free]

1. Al-Sistani, one of Iraq's most influential Shia leaders

Depending on how this goes, it could be very bad or very good, unfortunately things haven't been going very good in Iraq because of the poor decisions made by the coward bush.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Top Shia leader returns to Iraq

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3596760.stm

The spiritual head of Iraq's Shias has returned to his home country after receiving medical treatment in the UK, witnesses and officials have said.

[dbt]

3. Kick!

This bears a lot of watching.

:freak:
dbt

[Disturbed]

4. al Sistani is powerful.

A poster on DU said that al Sistani is on the US payroll. I asked for proof of that but got no repy. Anybody have proof of that or proof that he is not?

[Aidoneus]

5. there is none that I am aware of

Sayyid Seestani(HA) won't even meet with an American official, let alone be on their take.

Within what context was the claim made?

[NNN0LHI]

6. Can you provide "proof" that Sistani is even alive?

No one ever sees him. Don't see no recent pictures of him recuperating from his surgery. All his edicts are passed through an unnamed "spokesman". How the fuck we even know who his "spokesmen" are? Kind of hard to prove a negative. See what I mean?

Don

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Will this do has proof?

A TV grab taken off Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel shows Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, on his hospital bed in London.

[0007]

11. The folks in the U.K. have seen Sistani as of August 19, 2004

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040819/325/f0qv0.html

[Mark Mywrds]

10. Sistani¢¥s loyalties

There¢¥s an interesting posting on Liberty Forum today which poses the idea that Sistani went not only to an infidel country for medical treatment but to one that invaded his adopted country. At least he could have gone to France or Germany, where I¢¥m sure medical standards are as high as London town. Makes one wonder,no?

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Mark Mywrds!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[leQ]

7. don't cha just love how 'iraqi forces' is attached whenever...

our men and women are fighting insurgents? given that the rate of 80% of iraqi soldiers are deserting, one has to wonder how many iraqis are really involved. my gut tells me that the ratio of American/Iraqi forces is more like 90/10, not the 50/50 that's being projected.

why does everything have to be a CONjob with these jackasses?

[Disturbed]

8. al Sistani's possible connection with the US Neo Fascists

It was in the context of him being in compliance with the Neo Fascist plan for Iraq. I am just guessing but I just don't feel that he is complict with Neo Fascist plan of coloniasm.

The Hand-Over That Wasn't: Illegal Orders give the US a Lock on Iraq's Economy
by Antonia Juhasz

Officially, the U.S. occupation of Iraq ended on June 28, 2004. But in reality, the United States is still in charge: Not only do 138,000 troops remain to control the streets, but the "100 Orders" of L. Paul Bremer III remain to control the economy.

These little noticed orders enacted by Bremer, the now-departed head of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, go to the heart of Bush administration plans in Iraq. They lock in sweeping advantages to American firms, ensuring long-term U.S. economic advantage while guaranteeing few, if any, benefits to the Iraqi people.

The Bremer orders control every aspect of Iraqi life - from the use of car horns to the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Order No. 39 alone does no less than "transition from a … centrally planned economy to a market economy" virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat.

Although many thought that the "end" of the occupation would also mean the end of the orders, on his last day in Iraq Bremer simply transferred authority for the orders to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi - a 30-year exile with close ties to the CIA and British intelligence.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0805-07.htm