Iran Leader Slams Caretaker Government in iraq
Iran’s supreme jurisprudent, Ali Khamenei, spoke out Thursday against the new Iraqi government, saying that it was filled with puppets of the Americans, who remained in charge. He said that American home invasions and other irregularities only came about because the Shiite learned men had fallen silent. He thus implicitly challenged grand ayatollah Ali Sistani. Sistani rejects clerical activism except in what he calls “social issues,” as opposed to “national” or “political issues.” In short, he rejects Khomeinism. So far the Iranians have been tacitly backing Sistani, but that could change, and they have enormous resources to funnel to his opponents among the more radical clerics.