From Omar at Iraq the Model comes word that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has “dropped a bomb by rejecting federalism and thus rejecting the constitution.”

He links Al Mendhar.

Sistani: “In the name and Blessings of Allah we have found that the federation set in the constitution draft is division among your brothers in the north, center and south, marginalization for your unity, loss of your traditions and remoteness of your religion. The occupant desires to see you weak and desperate.”

The occupant = U.S.

Writes Omar:

This development reflects a critical turn in the relationship between the Sheat clergy and the government, and the ruling politicians will be faced again by the danger of having clerics interfering with politics but this time, the Sheat alliance which insisted onmentioning the clergy in the introduction of the constitution will certainly realize this danger and they will be left before a hard choice as they have put all their weight on the balance of the clergy and if the latter lets them down the consequences will be catastrophic for those politicians.

That being said, Sistani’s name has been used and words put in his mouth in the past. I’ve seen no corroboration of the Al Mendhar piece, so this might be proof positive that an MSM is emerging in Iraq along the lines of our own, albeit less constrained by even kernels of truth.