From the always reliable Juan Cole, comes more ominous signs for our troops in Iraq.
'I sell foodstuffs. Sometimes the Occupying Powers or their associates come to my establishment. May I sell them foodstuffs?'
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani replied:
'Selling foodstuffs to the Occupying Powers is not permitted.'
More after the jump...
As we all know, Grand Ayatollah Ali-Sastani is a revered and important figure in the everyday life of the Iraqi people. Much more influential and powerful than Sadr, despite the huge difference in coverage here.
Our troops "foodstuffs" is already imported due to fear of poisoning, so this pertains more to the individual soldier buying a snack or meal from an Iraqi shop. When I served overseas, we always had our favorite little spot that sold something. Of course, I was lucky enough to never serve during combat, so I'm not sure the comparison is relevant. The act of forbidding the sale to the "Ocuupying Powers" seems much more important to me than the actual affect. According to Cole:
But if Sistani is laying the grounds for a Gandhi-style non-cooperation movement, he certainly could put a crimp in the American military's style in Iraq. I can't imagine US troops could function in the Shiite south or much of Baghdad without Shiite cooperation. Sistani still has a great deal of moral authority, and would be backed by less cautious clerics such as Muqtada al-Sadr and Ayatollah Jawad al-Khalisi.
For an even more disturbing relevation we return to Cole, from the same post:
This fatwa is significant in light of the reports that Sistani has been orally permitting attacks on US troops by Shiite militiamen loyal to the Shiite religious authorities in Najaf.
Nothing about our nightmare occupation of Iraq would have been better without the cooperation, or at least relative nuetrality, of Sistani.
Finally, from the same post, it appears Sistani is "coming out against the proposed mutual security agreement" that has received much attention here and elsewhere:
' The Grand Ayatollah has reiterated that he would not allow Iraq to sign such a deal with "the US occupiers" as long as he was alive, a source close to Ayatollah Sistani said. The source added the Grand Ayatollah had voiced his strong objection to the deal during a meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday. '
Read the whole post, folks. It's getting worser and worser. Ugh.