Re: …‘unkown Americans’ are provoking a civil war in Iraq
Sistani calls for dismantling militias
BAGHDAD: Shia spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called Thursday for Iraq’s next government to dismantle the deadly militias that have pushed the country to the brink of civil war.
Sistani, perhaps the country’s most influential figure, told prime minister designate Nuri al-Maliki in a meeting at his Najaf residence that militias must be disarmed and that weapons should be in the hands of the government alone.
In the last year, the septuagenarian cleric has watched Shia militias take up arms against the country’s Sunni minority in defiance of his repeated warnings against seeking revenge for rebel attacks.
“Weapons must be in the hands of government security forces that should not be tied to political parties but to the nation,” Sistani was quoted as saying in a statement released after his meeting with Maliki.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C04%5C28%5Cstory_28-4-2006_pg4_5