Shia faction steers away from links with Iran

IRAN:The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the second-largest Shia fundamentalist faction in parliament, declared on Saturday that it would seek guidance from Iraq's most senior cleric rather than Iran's spiritual leader.

If the shift is actually made, it could realign forces on the Iraqi political landscape and weaken Iran's influence in the country.

The Supreme Council, SCIRI, founded in 1982 by Iraqi exiles based in Tehran, was completely dependent on Iran and continues to rely on it for political support and finance. Its militia, the Badr Brigades, trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and armed and funded by Tehran, fought on Iran's side during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

By announcing that it would henceforth regard as its mentor Iraq's Grand Ayatollah, Ali al-Sistani, rather than Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, SCIRI is appealing to the nationalism of Iraqi Arab Shias, who do not like Iranians and reject "Persian" interference in Iraq's affairs.

By declaring for Ayatollah Sistani, SCIRI is both denying Ayatollah Khamenei a role in Iraqi affairs and distancing itself from the doctrine of Valayet-i-Faqih, or the Rule of the Jurisprudent, elaborated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Most Iraqi Shias reject this concept. Ayatollah Sistani advocates an important role for clerics in politics but not direct clerical rule.

SCIRI is also dropping the word "revolution" from its name, indicating that now it is in government it is no longer an advocate of "revolution". SCIRI argues that the word refers to the struggle against the former president, Saddam Hussein, and no longer applies.

Analysts argue that the changes, made at last week's party conference, are intended to "Iraqise" the party ahead of this year's provincial elections and the 2009 parliamentary poll. The United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia coalition of 17 factions blessed by Ayatollah Sistani and led by SCIRI, has gradually collapsed over the past year.

Consequently, SCIRI, which has 30 seats in the assembly, may need to stand on its own and compete with its major rival, the faction headed by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, an indigenous foundation with 32 seats in parliament and a mass Iraqi Arab nationalist following.

In declaring its independence from Iran, SCIRI, through its leader, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, is steering a cautious course in its relations with the unpopular US. He has called for a "status of forces" agreement between Washington and Baghdad which would define the role of US troops in Iraq and, perhaps, fix a time frame for their withdrawal, a demand voiced by the vast majority of Iraqis. Mr Hakim has also rejected US demands for an end to the purge of former Baathists from public life.

Iraqi deputies have recently tried to show their independence of Washington by adopting legislation demanding such a time frame and they have passed a measure declaring illegal the construction by US soldiers of walls separating Sunni and Shia neighbourhoods in Baghdad.