Ayatollah Sistani Sides with Iraq Protesters

Civil unrest in Iraq, predominantly in Baghdad and the southern provinces, has roiled the country all week. The death toll is at 33 with over 1500 wounded. Security forces have resorted to live fire.

Protesters are demanding government action on unemployment, income inequality, corruption and the delivery of basic services -- fundamental demands of a democratic electorate.

No discernible political or sectarian orientation can be ascribed to this uprising, though it seems to be centered in Shiite areas of the country. One needs to be cautious given the West's penchant for color revolutions and the recent importance of Iraq in the U.S.-Iran quasi-war, but this seems to be another expression of Tahrir Square spirit (something returned to Egypt recently).

As the NYT reports, Ayatollah Sistani has sided with the protesters, calling for a formation of anti-corruption committee and protester-government dialogue:

“It is sorrowful that there have been so many deaths, casualties and destruction,” [Ayatollah Sistani] wrote in a letter read out by his representative, Ahmed al-Safi, at a sermon in Kerbala, Reuters reported. “The government and political sides have not answered the demands of the people to fight corruption or achieved anything on the ground.”

Ayatollah Sistani urged both side to step back “before it is too late,” The Associated Press reported, and he repeated his call for the formation of a committee of technocrats to address corruption.

In an effort to prove his seriousness, [prime minister Adil Abdul] Mahdi invited representatives of several political factions, including opposition parties, to meet with him and discuss how to be reduce tensions.

Mr. Mahdi’s efforts seemed aimed at dividing the protesters between those who had resorted to violence and those who insisted their goal was to protest peacefully.

“Today we are pulled between two options: having a state or having no state,” he said.

What a wonderful thing if the Middle East could get another shot at the Arab Spring. The Gulf monarchies are much more fractured today than eight years ago, as are the old colonial powers of the West. It will be difficult to play the jihadist card again with the same bravado. Maybe people power will not be so grossly subverted this go-round.