Iraqi groups getting their act together?

[k hanly <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/06/international/worldspecial/06IRAQ.html?ei=
1&en=721e6f99f6afeb67&ex=1055921337&pagewanted=print&position=

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June 6, 2003
Leading Iraqi Shiite Cleric Emerges to Meet U.S. Ally
By PATRICK E. TYLER


AJAF, Iraq, June 5 - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sestani, one of the most senior
Shiite clerics in Iraq and the world, stepped into the political fray for
the first time since the war today, meeting with a Kurdish leader who has
enjoyed close ties to Washington and calling for elections to a national
assembly for Iraqis to produce a new constitution.

Iraqi political figures who attended the meeting said the grand ayatollah
was critical of postwar conditions in Iraq. The allied campaign to end the
tyranny and oppression of Saddam Hussein "is like an occupation, not a
liberation, as the people have been told," one of those who attended quoted
him as saying.

Ayatollah Sestani spoke today during a meeting with Massoud Barzani, the
Kurdish chieftain who is among the former opponents of Mr. Hussein who are
now stepping up pressure on American and British occupation authorities to
allow an Iraqi political process to move forward quickly.

Today's visit, the first time that the grand ayatollah has emerged from
seclusion since early April, underscored that the growing dissatisfaction
with the current state of planning in Washington and London for a postwar
government extends beyond former Iraqi opposition leaders to other major
figures.

Shiite Muslims compose 60 percent of Iraq's population, and Ayatollah
Sestani is one of the most influential voices among them.

Mr. Barzani traveled to Najaf in a caravan of more than 25 vehicles that
wheeled across the desert and into the crowded streets of the city center
near the dome of the shrine of the Imam Ali mosque, where the nephew of the
Prophet Muhammad and the spiritual leader of Shiite Islam is said to be
entombed.

The alleyways were choked with pilgrims, vendors and religious students as
Mr. Barzani, wearing a business suit, made his way on foot down a narrow
passageway to a nondescript doorway that opened onto a large two-story
house. There, the ayatollah's anterooms were crowded with religious visitors
from Pakistan, Uzbekistan and China, said Hoshyar Zebari, Mr. Barzani's
spokesman and foreign policy adviser.

"His emphasis was on having an Iraqi government, on elections and that this
is the right thing in a democratic system," said Hamid al-Bayati, a
spokesman for Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim, another prominent Shiite
Muslim cleric, who sits with Mr. Barzani on a seven-member "leadership
council" of Iraqi political leaders.

"The meeting today supported our argument and view of the need for an Iraqi
government, an independent government and a constitution through an assembly
elected by the Iraqi people," Mr. Bayati said.

Mr. Barzani, who had not visited Najaf since his father, Mulla Mustafa
Barzani, sent him on a mission here in 1967, said in an interview that his
impression of Ayatollah Sestani "is that he is an advocate of nonviolence,
that he does not seek dramatic change, but rather is a man of consensus."

Participants in the meeting said the ayatollah did not criticize the
American occupation administrator, L. Paul Bremer III. But they said he did
speak pointedly about mistakes that he believes are being made by the allied
powers, like appointing Sunni Muslims as governors in predominantly Shiite
areas, inflaming longstanding Shiite grievances about being treated as an
underclass.

On Friday, Mr. Bremer is meeting with the former opposition groups who have
united and seek to form an interim government under the United Nations
resolution on Iraq. Thus far, Mr. Bremer has offered the Iraqi political
groups membership on a "political council" of 35 that he would appoint for
"consultations."

He has also proposed calling a national conference to appoint a commission
to write a new constitution, but plans for the conference and the selection
of delegates have not been spelled out.

The Iraqi leadership council will meet on Friday in an expanded session
where Iraqis are expected to seek clarifications on Mr. Bremer's proposals.
After the meeting, the Iraqis said, they will decide whether to participate
in Mr. Bremer's political council.

During a joint news conference today, Mr. Barzani and Ayatollah Hakim spoke
of the desire not to "clash" with the occupation powers, but at the same
time expressed impatience with the pace of the political process under Mr.
Bremer.

In February and in May, Iraqi political figures said they were promised
first by Zalmay Khalilzad, the White House special envoy to the Iraqi
opposition, and then Jay Garner, Mr. Bremer's predecessor as administrator
for postwar Iraq, that they would be allowed to form a provisional
government as soon as Mr. Hussein was toppled.