Top Iraqi Shiite cleric calls for scaling back militia influence, backing prime minister
This is good news. Perhaps the Iraqis have learned their lesson. Only Iraqis will keep Iraq whole. They collapsed in 2014 because they were at odds with one another.
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric on Friday called on the powerful Shiite militias that helped reconquer the Islamic State’s territory to choose between politics and arms, backing a key demand of the prime minister.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani stopped short, however, of rescinding a religious edict he made in June 2014 urging Iraqi citizens to join security forces at a time when the Islamic State was sweeping through the country, eventually taking over about a third of Iraq’s territory.
Instead, he said that all weapons should be under the control of the state and that armed groups should steer clear of political participation — marking a significant step in Iraq’s demobilization from a war footing now that major combat against the Islamic State has ended.
Sistani’s call, made during a weekly prayer sermon delivered in the city of Karbala by a representative of the reclusive cleric, comes ahead of elections next spring in which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is expected to face challenges from leaders of Shiite militias, whose influence and visibility have grown during the three-year battle against the militants of the Islamic State. Many of the militias are backed by Iran.
Maintaining Abadi’s hold on power is a major priority for the United States, which worked closely with the Iraqi prime minister in the war. Abadi is seen by Washington and many Iraqis as a reliable check on Iranian influence in Iraq, and a conciliatory figure who could lead a national reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites.
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