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BAGHDAD, Iraq 23 Sept (AP) – Iraq’s most
powerful Shiite cleric endorsed the draft
constitution, rejecting opposition voiced by two
popular leaders of Iraq’s majority sect and
underlining a rift also on display in anti-British
violence in the southern city of Basra.
Two officials in the Shiite Muslim hierarchy in
Najaf said on Thursday that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
called senior aides together and told them to
promote a “yes” vote among the faithful during the
Oct. 15 national referendum on the constitution.
The officials refused to be identified because they
are not authorized to speak for al-Sistani, who only
issues statements through his office and makes no
public appearances.
Iraq’s minority Sunni Arabs, who lost power and
privilege with the fall of Saddam Hussein in the
US-led invasion, are deeply opposed to the
constitution. They form the bulk of the country’s
violent insurgency and have stepped up attacks on
Shiites in advance of the vote.
In Amman, Jordan, about 150 Iraqi Sunni clerics and
tribal leaders called for the rejection of the
constitution, warning the charter would lead to the
fragmentation of Iraq. The local leaders from Iraq’s
insurgency-torn Anbar province, the country’s Sunni
heartland, met for a a three-day conference in the
Jordanian capital for security reasons.
“We urge all the Iraqi people to go to the polls and
say no to the constitution,” Sheik Abdul-Latif
Himayem, a prominent cleric from the Anbar capital,
Ramadi, told The Associated Press.
Some officials saw a Shiite split in play during the
violence this week in the predominantly Shiite city
of Basra, where British troops clashed with mobs and
smashed into a jail while rescuing two soldiers.
Anthony Cordesman of the Washington-based Center for
Strategic and International Affairs, said the
escalation of tension in the Basra underscored the
simmering rift among Shiite factions ahead of the
referendum and parliamentary elections in December.
“In large part, this is a reaction to a struggle
between hard-liners and more moderate religious
elements,” he said.
Cordesman said the more moderate stance of the
largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Council
for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was not accepted
in southern Iraq, where “a relatively hard-line
religious takeover in Basra, one linked closer to
Iran,” has created animosity toward the British
presence.
AP
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