FINANCIAL TIMES: Iraq’s most influential Shia cleric appealed on Friday for the country’s politicians to form a new government with “broad national support”, raising the pressure on prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been blamed for loss of territory in the north to Sunni insurgents.
Speaking the day after US President Barack Obama called for a coalition in Baghdad that would embrace disaffected Sunnis and sent military advisers to help fight the insurgents, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged the various political blocs to quickly form an “effective” government.
Although he did not mention Mr Maliki by name, Ayatollah Sistani’s comments were an indirect criticism of the prime minister and his Shia-dominated government… (more)
