politburo diktat 2.0

This story isn’t making big headlines, but yesterday, the fourth aide to al-Sistani was killed in Najaf. A peaceful, (and at least so far) the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, Sistani is exactly the kind of participant needed in any kind of multi-sectarian Iraqi political consensus. And now, someone, (it’s not clear who), is targeting his aides. Inside Najaf.

I’ve read speculations that al-Sadr is behind it, or maybe Sunnis, or maybe Al Qaeda in Iraq, or maybe Iranian-oriented Shiites. We just don’t know. And that’s the problem. That’s the point. That’s the significance. Four years into this venture … and we simply don’t know who’s killing whom, or why. There are just too many cross-currents, shifting allegiances, “tribal” interests, personal ambitions and vendettas.

Arguably, the one individual most vital to an Iraqi consensus, a man who has been fairly accommodating of the American presence and our goals, is being targeted. (Some might argue that we do, in fact, know, but it’s a secret. If so, then we are completely powerless to stop such assassinations.)

Aug 3 - Gunmen kill aide of top Shiite cleric in Iraq

Unidentified gunmen assassinated an aide of top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani near his home in the city of Najaf south of Baghdad on Thursday, local police source said on Friday.

“Three gunmen in a vehicle shot dead Sheikh Fadel al-Aqel, a deputy of Sistani, in the neighborhood of al-Milad in Najaf City at about 10:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Thursday,” the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The incident, which is under investigation, is the fourth of such kind in two months, the source said.

July 26 - Former aide of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric slain in Najaf

A former aide to Iraq’s top Shiite cleric was killed Thursday in a drive-by shooting in the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad, security officials said.

Kazim Jabir al-Bidairi was shot dead by two gunmen in a car as he drove in the Wafa area of northern Najaf at 11:30 a.m., according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Bidairi, who was in his 40s, was alone in the car.

The officials had no immediate word on the possible motive of the assailants, but al-Bidairi was the third person linked to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to be killed in two months.

Sheik Abdullah Falak al-Basrawi, who ran an office that collected a Shiite religious tax paid to al-Sistani and used to run his seminaries and charities, was stabbed to death last weekend at his office, only 30 to 40 meters (yards) away from where al-Sistani lives and works.

Last month, Rahim al-Hassnawi, al-Sistani’s representative in an area south of Najaf, was killed by gunmen, also in the holy city.

Al-Bidairi worked as a senior administrator at al-Sistani’s office before August 2004, when he was given charge of a security force assigned to protect Najaf’s Imam Ali shrine after months of fighting between U.S. troops and a Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Mahdi Army militiamen took refuge in the shrine during the final stages of the fighting.