Cleric seeks to curb sway of militias
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s top Shiite cleric on Friday called on the powerful Shiite militias that helped conquer the Islamic State’s territory to choose between politics and arms, backing a key demand of the prime minister.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani stopped short, however, of rescinding a religious edict he made in June 2014 urging Iraqi citizens to join security forces at a time when the Islamic State was sweeping through the country, eventually taking over about one-third of Iraq’s territory.
Instead, he said all weapons should be under the control of the state and that armed groups should steer clear of political participation — marking a significant step in Iraq’s demobilization from a war footing now that major combat against the Islamic State has ended.
Sistani’s call, made during a weekly Friday prayer sermon delivered by a representative of the reclusive cleric, comes ahead of elections next spring in which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is expected to face challenges from leaders of Shiite militias — many of whom are backed by Iran — and whose influence and visibility have grown during the three-year battle against the militants of Islamic State.
Maintaining Abadi’s hold on power is a major priority of the United States, which partnered closely with the Iraqi prime minister in the war. Abadi is seen by Washington and many Iraqis as a reliable check on Iranian influence in Iraq and a figure who could lead a national reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites.
Sistani’s comments are likely to bolster Abadi, who has said reining in the many armed Shiite militias is an immediate imperative to stabilize the country as it copes with the physical and social damage of the Islamic State occupation. In an interview with the Washington Post in October, Abadi said the militias must either join the formal Iraqi security forces or disband and separate their political and military activities. He warned that those who refuse, will become “outlaws.”
On Friday, Sistani did not call out the militias by name but hewed to Abadi’s line, creating the possibility that the militias could lose popular support if they disobey him. He said Iraq still needs the manpower of the volunteers but exclusively within Iraq’s regular security forces.
“It is necessary to make continued use of this important energy within the constitutional and legal frameworks that restrict arms to the state,” Sistani’s representative said.
He added that the volunteers, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, earned a reputation that exceeded any political force in Iraq and using their popularity for political purposes would sully their “holy status.”
Sistani’s words resonate deeply in majority Shiite Iraq. His 2014 edict provoked a stampede of men joining Iraq’s security forces. Though he had urged them to sign up for Iraq’s police and army, the majority raced to join established and newly formed militias that were hungrily recruiting under a banner of religious obligation.