Britain's
Telegraph reports:
What this means is its a battle between Sadr and Badr Brigades in South Iraq for control, with open season on Sunni and American and Brit alike.
I no longer have power to save Iraq from civil war, warns Shia leader
The most influential moderate Shia leader in Iraq has abandoned attempts to restrain his followers, admitting that there is nothing he can do to prevent the country sliding towards civil war.
Bush's game is up. He's brought nothing but failure and misery to Iraq. Sistani was the last thing restraining open civil war, and he ain't going to be able to hide it or slogan it away.
"I will not be a political leader any more," [Sistani] told aides. "I am only happy to receive questions about religious matters."
It is a devastating blow to the remaining hopes for a peaceful solution in Iraq and spells trouble for British forces, who are based in and around the Shia stronghold of Basra.
It's a Brit paper so naturally their main concern is their own. Sadr, Juan Cole wrote in the last few days, has been rapidly gaining influence in the south. It is Sadr who is most eager to kill Americans, and the south is the territory where almost all of our supplies travel on their way up from (Shi'a) Basra and Kuwait. This bodes very ill for the future of our forces.
...Asked whether Ayatollah al-Sistani could prevent a civil war, Mr al-Jaberi [a spokesman for the cleric] replied: "Honestly, I think not. He is very angry, very disappointed."...
..."He asked the politicians to ask the Americans to make a timetable for leaving but they disappointed him," ...Hundreds of thousands of people have turned away from al-Sistani to the far more aggressive al-Sadr. ...
Insanely, Sadr, who will struggle with the Badr Brigades for top dog in Shia Iraq is against both the US and Iran interfering in Iraq, where the Badr's are aligned with Iran. Bush has maneuvered us into a situation where whoever we back, we lose. An omni-directional fuck-up. And millions will suffer for it.
If only the Democratic Party's insistance on a timeline had been agreed to by the Republicans...