Will Sistani Declare Jihad on US?

Juan Cole
from Juancole.com

Hamza Hendawi and Qassim Abdul Zahra of AP get the scoop: Their sources in Najaf tell them that young Shiite men belonging to the "Troops of the Ayatollahs" (Jund al-Marja`iyyah) militia that protects the leading Shiite clerics in the Middle Euphrates have been imploring Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani for a fatwa or formal legal ruling about whether it is permissible to attack US and other foreign troops. Hendawi and Abdul Zahra report that whereas in the past Sistani had dodged the question or given a vague answer, in recent months he has begun verbally affirming to visitors that such attacks on foreign occupation troops are permissible.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met with Sistani on Thursday to discuss the security situation. Maliki and a government spokesman tried to spin the grand ayatollah's position as one of pure support for al-Maliki's assault on the Mahdi Army. Al-Sharq al-Awsat writes in Arabic that Sistani's brother-in-law, in Najaf, said that the Grand Ayatollah does not enter into details, but generally supports a rule of law and obedience to the government.

But Sistani's representative in Karbala, Abdul Mahdi Karbala'i, had said last week that Sistani was opposed to al-Maliki's attempt to disarm the Mahdi Army, and also opposed his threat to exclude the Sadr Movement from running for office in the forthcoming provincial elections. (Full quote at end-- scroll down).

So, the questions are, "why" and "why now?"

(Continued here.)