Asked whether Ayatollah Sistani could prevent a civil war, his spokesman Ali Al-Jaberi replied: "Honestly, I think not. He is very angry, very disappointed," Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported Sunday, September 3.

He told the paper that Sistani was furious that his followers had turned away from him and ignored his calls for moderation.Jaberi said a series of snubs had contributed to Sistani's decision to retreat into his shell.

"After the war, the politicians were visiting him every month. If they wanted to do something, they visited him. But no one has visited him for two or three months. He is very angry that this is happening now. He sees this as very bad."

Sistani warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, at a meeting on Saturday, that civil war was coming unless his government does something to prevent it.

"If the government does not do its duty in imposing security and order to the people and protecting them, it will give a chance to other powers to do this duty and this is a very dangerous matter," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Sistani as saying.

The US Defense Department admitted Friday, September 1, that the country was sliding towards a bloody civil war.It said in a report that Sunni-Shiite attacks rose by 24 per cent to 792 per week – the highest of the war – and daily Iraqi casualties soared by 51 per cent to almost 120.

Allegiance Switched

Sistani said he is disappointed that Iraq's Shiites have sworn allegiance now to militant groups and death squads.

"I will not be a political leader any more," the Telegraph quoted him as telling aides. "I am only happy to receive questions about religious matters."Sistani's influence has been demonstrated in persuading the Shiites to vote for the ruling United Iraqi Alliance in the 2005 controversial parliamentary elections.

But his political prowess and authority have shown sings of decline recently, the paper said.His calls on followers to display restraint and cease from attacks on Sunnis fell on deaf ears.

Sabah Ali, 22, an engineering student at Baghdad University, said that he had switched allegiance after the murder of his brother by Sunni gunmen."I went to Sistani asking for revenge for my brother," he said. "They said go to the police, they couldn't do anything."

"So I went to the Al-Sadr office. I told them about the terrorists' family. They said, 'Don't worry, we'll get revenge for your brother'. Two days later, Sadr's people had killed nine of the terrorists, so I felt I had revenge for my brother. I believe Sadr is the only one protecting the Shiites against the terrorists."

Sadr's spokesman, Sheik Hussein Al-Aboudi, said people become close to Al-Sadr because he is closer to them than Sistani."Sistani is the ayatollah, he is very expert in Islam, but not as a politician."

Islamonline.net, September 3, 2006