Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's most influential Shi'ite cleric, has indicated he will withdraw threats of civil unrest -- and possibly abandon his direct elections call -- if the UN rules there is insufficient time to organise fair elections before the handover.
...UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced in Paris he was prepared to send staff back to Iraq. "The UN can play a constructive role in helping to find a way out from the current impasse," he said. "As soon as I have been persuaded that the Coalition Provisional Authority will take adequate measures to assure security, I will send a mission to Iraq as I have been requested."
...AT least three people were killed when a booby-trapped ambulance smashed into a Baghdad hotel yesterday, only hours after incidents in which six coalition soldiers, two CNN workers and at least two Iraqis died.
The violence came within a day of a United Nations announcement it would return staff to study the feasibility of swift elections in the ravaged country. The Australian article
Al-Sistani is going to come out okay here, isn't he? Looks good in that he says he'll abide by UN decision on the elections, but the UN can't get in to make the assessment if it's not safe, and...it's not safe.
Jay in Idaho sent me a link to al-Sistani's website, but hey, I can't read Arabic. It's okay, though. I can read minds. Bwaaaaaahahaha. What's this I see about a letter of conversion?
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
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