Sistani makes a good decision

[gilliam]

Another small step:

In an important step towards more credible and fair elections, senior cleric Ali al-Sistani announced through his office that he will refrain from receiving any of the political leaders running for office in the next elections and will reject the many requests made by many Iraqi politicians.

In my opinion, such steps constitute real support for the coming elections and a declaration on the part of the Ayatollah of his awareness of the previous mistake when politicians convinced the clergy into endorsing their lists which resulted in rendering the clergy liable for criticism from the public and affected its popularity rewarding the clergy with nothing but contempt from the people due to the poor performance of Jafari’s government.

People here are cautious (I mean the liberal people) from the interference of the clergy with the elections like what happened last time and I’ve discussed with many people that the outcome of last time’s experience will make it hard for the clerics to get involved in a similar mess again and tell them that there’s no need to be afraid this time.

iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/

 

[Guar_Fan]

The current ruling coalition was swept to power with al-Sistani’s blessing. But as the blog suggests, Sistani was concerned about allegations of corruption… which sullies his endorsement.

The outcome of the election should be harder to predict.
Newsday story

 

[gilliam]

Guar Fan:

The current ruling coalition was swept to power with al-Sistani’s blessing. But as the blog suggests, Sistani was concerned about allegations of corruption… which sullies his endorsement.

The outcome of the election should be harder to predict.
Newsday story

They are taking their steps to democracy.

They are doing a better job than we did during our 1st years, by the way.

 

[Guar_Fan]

gilliam:

They are doing a better job than we did during our 1st years, by the way.

Yes, if I remember correctly, the European powers regarded the United States as a basket case for several decades, expecting it to collapse under the weight of dissension and corruption.