tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9908604.post111372095667243641..comments2024-03-01T00:27:42.852-08:00Comments on Hammer Of The Blogs: Man Of The PeopleHeywood J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05627748699423939682noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9908604.post-1113857135405962002005-04-18T13:45:00.000-07:002005-04-18T13:45:00.000-07:00Heywood - You keep talking down Sistani as being a...Heywood - You keep talking down Sistani as being an Iranian proxy, but I think that you are wrong.<BR/><BR/>See <A HREF="http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0220/p01s02-woiq.html" REL="nofollow">Christian Science Monitor</A> article:<BR/>Amid preparations for pivotal elections Friday in Iran - and later this year in Iraq - analysts see two Shiite visions of democracy vying for dominance. Some say the traditionally "quietist" clergy represented by Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is growing more influential at the expense of Iran's all-embracing system of clerical rule embodied by Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<BR/><BR/>Also see <A HREF="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB08Ak01.html" REL="nofollow">Asia Times</A>:<BR/>Even when Sistani rejects Khomeini's model of vilayat-e-faqih , he is not proposing the kind of secularism that US or any other Western politicians have in mind. <BR/><BR/>Indeed, this <A HREF="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june05/sistani_3-3.html" REL="nofollow">PBS piece</A> would indicate that Sistani may have more influence on Iran than Iran has on Sistani:<BR/>DR. MOHAMMAD REZA KHATAMI: I think the behavior of Ayatollah Sistani has a very deep influence over the government of Iran and over the population and over the community of Iran.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com