On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 07:43:27 -0500, Harry Krause wrote:

(Polite snip so others can re-read the second post)


Hard as it is to believe, it appears Bush is as naive now as to how the
world works as he was prior to assuming national office.

This is interesting:

Top cleric backs Iraqi candidates with religious intent

By Liz Sly
Chicago Tribune

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The revered Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani weighed into Iraq's election campaign Saturday with an
instruction to his followers on how to vote that amounted to an
endorsement of the ruling pro-Iranian Shiite coalition.

In what his aides described as an oral statement issued through his
Office of Fatwa, or religious instruction, in the holy city of Najaf,
al-Sistani said Shiites are obligated to vote in the Dec. 15 election.
He also specified that they should favor lists of candidates who are
religiously inclined and that they should not vote for "weak" ones.

The only group that fits that description is the United Iraqi Alliance,
the heavyweight Shiite coalition of major religious parties that won the
most votes in the last election and now dominates the government.
- - -

Religiously inclined, indeed. Iraq is going to have an interesting future.

And Iran Focus is reporting this:

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Dec. 01 – A radical Islamist weekly close to Iran’s
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trumpeted the recent visit by Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani to Iran and his meeting with the Supreme Leader
of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as having invoked the
fury of senior United States officials.

“The American ambassador to Iraq officially protested to the Iraqi
government and displayed his fury, after the meeting between Jalal
Talabani and the Supreme Leader, who lashed out at the U.S.”, the
ultra-conservative weekly Parto-Sokhan wrote in its latest issue.

The paper quoted an Iraqi security official as saying that through its
embassy in Baghdad Washington had “strongly protested” high-level
meetings between Iraqi and Iranian officials.

“The U.S. strongly protested the anti-American comments of Ayatollah
Khamenei in the meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. They were
critical of the Iraqi President”, the paper wrote, adding that
Washington was also concerned security agreements between the two states.


ALL of this mess is the fault of the Bush misAdministration. Every bit
of it.



Doesn't sound as if the Iraqi leadership are following "lock step" with
the U.S.
Making new friends without us....hummmm?
Maybe they are ready for us to leave.
We should take the hint.
I hope this isn't a missed opportunity for the Bush administration.



Y'all have a super Sunday!
--

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