Actually, Sistani wouldn’t “give himself absolute power”, and wouldn’t even be elected, because he’s highly oposed to mixing religious leadership and political power. Not that he wouldn’t want a government that would enforce Islamic law, or courts headed by islamic judges, but he thinks that political power is by nature corrupting, hence that clerics should stay away from it. From this point of view he’s an anti-Khomeyni.
[aside] I heatrily recommend this article in the current Harpers entitled “Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraq in Pursuit of a Neocon Utopia” by Naomi Klein. If only half what she says is true, its damning. If it’s all true…oh, Lordy, let’s hope not. [/aside]
Here’s a more prestigious (sorry el lucidato) reccommendation of that article
Periodical Articles for Current Awareness
Compiled by Virginia C. Shope
U.S. Army War College Library
Carlisle Barracks, PA
1 September 2004
Iraq
Elis, Hadi. “The Kurdish Demand for Statehood and the Future of Iraq.” Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies 29 (Summer 2004): 191-209.
Klein, Naomi. “Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraq in Pursuit of a Neocon Utopia.” Harper’s Magazine 309 (September 2004): 43-53.
Parenti, Christian. “Fables of the Reconstruction: The Effort to Rebuild Iraq Looks Less Like an Aid Mission Than a Criminal Racket.” Nation 279 (30 August-6 September 2004): 16-20.
Oh, I suppose its more prestigious because some smart-ass with font skills and coloration ability says so? A self-confessed Republican, I hasten to point out, mocking the sincere if unpolished efforts an earnest and unassuming country boy…
grouse, grumble, bitch…