The religious festivals, and religious places, let say “Nithors” النذور most people do these things on daily life not just inside Iraq but far from India and Iran and all around as part of their love for Al-Albeit.

Very close source used to be working inside that circle during student today at the time. he mentioned to me those Mullah you see them in Najaf or other places asking if you have Nither specially “killing Sheep” they rush to you showing the sheep and you pay for him on ground he do the job and kill that sheep and distribute the meats to the needy poor people in the city. but in fact that same sheep over and over taken all around and they got paid for him over and over.

There is video for Vale Nasser about the revenue that Sistani made in 2004 he stated around 3billion the video is there if you like will hunt for it.
That is why Iraq today have the highest country in the world of religious holidays on the earth.

That said, I understand from Mohammad’s post is that he is trying to reach out to those who are not familiar with Iraq to explain the obvious (at least to me it is obvious) . I know for a fact that the south is anti Iranian (and have stated that here several times). But the average man has no control. It is the She3a political parties that control government(s) in the south and they get much of their funding either through direct grants from Iran or through “trade with Iran”, or more recently outright corruption and kick back schemes that make any American think twice about doing business given the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

While corruption may be a way to wean Iraqi parties from Iranian milk, but in reality it will kill democracy in Iraq as the average man now equates democracy with deteriorating security and services!!. So once again, there is the issue of the success of the larger experiment in the middle east and how we are going to make the middle east cross the gap to be part of the globalization process.

Back to the issue of the Mahdi. I said it kind of tongue in cheek, but it is not far from reality. I promise you that I was present and at the table on many occasions where the issue of Islam and who is a muslim and what the end of the days is and all that sort of weird discussions took place and by Ph.D.’s Medical Doctors and decision makers. I normally have an “out of body” experience as I get into the listen mode and spend my energy trying to prevent myself from laughing out loud at the silliness — by the way, this happens between sunni and she3a politicians— oh the stories I can tell.

What I have not resolved to myself is if these people REALLY believe or it is a big hypocritical theater? The part that makes me wonder is how can these people have PhD’s in science and be this ignorant and ready to believe a fairy tale? It just does not compute!!!! One of the “facts’ must be wrong. Either they do not deserve their Ph.D.’s or they are lying through their teeth to stay on top of the political game.

So Muhammad, I know exactly what you are telling us and I agree with most of what you said, except the “benign” nature of Maliki and Da3wa. I am more concerned with democracy in Iraq as I think that the Iraqi people have sacrificed enough and that truly the salvation is to activate the free market and preserve the rule of law and assure the survival of democracy not the hegemony of this or that sect or this or that political party.

PS
Jason, Santana, Reidar, Wladmir, ask your friends how many crude oil tankers cross the border into Iran and you get your answer as to why there are such strong ties between Talabani and Iran – simple really. Historic ties not withstanding, just trace the money.

And yeah, you are right Reidar. I saw this article in other Iraqi newspapers before, it’s just mere speculation, or a test balloon.

Wladimir, I thought those numbers, in the 10 to 15,000 range, seemed a bit on the higher end of the spectrum. If they truly were to provide instruction, it would transform the Iraqi military to some sort of permanent college… Maybe just a test balloon?

“Now what guides al-Maliki is how to ensure that power by his group is not diminished in the long run. So he is packing all the ministries and government with people who are close to him. It is really no different than any politician in the west or east.”

You don’t need inside information to see that Maliki is playing for keeps, unlike most democratic politicians in the west or east. Democracy is the antithesis of guarantees.

I commend you for your effort in writing all that…and if the Shiites were exactly how you described and do not want Iran taking over the Country then please let me know where I can sign up to become one. Seriously though- it is obvious that you are very well educated and represent the type of Shiites I wish to see in Government-but I don’t think you even represent 5% of them I mentioned this to you before- I have no problem if the Iraqi Parliament and leadership was 100 % Shiites ! I don’t care what an Iraqi religus affiliation is..BUT I want WATANEEYOON that truly care for Iraq!!!!! .I am a big Allawi supporter and he is shiite. But reality is sooooo different my friend- you can actually risk your life in Iraq with your views – and I am talking from your own kinfolk. As far as the Abbas striking non-believers in Wilayat Al-Faqih you and I both know it is nonsense but I know Shiite with PHDs that believe in it….I remember in the 80s during the Iran – Iraq war I was watching a News video with a Shiite friend from Nasriyah- and it was showing an Iraqi Army Helicopter on the Iranian side of Shat Al-Arab and there were mobs of advancing Iranian soldier firing at it as it was loading up with Iraqi soldiers during an emergency withdrawl….then it slowly picked up and Iranian rounds were hitting it – it only needed to get up above 2-300 feet and cross over to the Iraqi side….I was jumping up and down screaming “get up, get up ” and my friend was screaming at the same time-crash crash !! and it started rotating and sinking from the damage it sustained” and it then crashed in a fireball and my friend said “HAIL” !!!!!! (our friendhip ended that day after a vicous fist fight) . I told him “how could you ?? these are our Iraqi brothers….he said – Kha**a alaihum-we follow the sect and not the nationality !!. Honest Mohamed I did not exaggerate this ONE bit- it is the only arrest on my record. This incident still haunts me at night.

Jason- We haven’t figured out why Talabani loves the Iranian regime so much (besides their support for him in the 90s against Barzani) but a Kurd told me once that Iran has promised the Kurds autonomy and there is an unofficial defense pact between Talabani and Iran post U.S Withdrawl incase the Central government decides to do anything- which I doubt they would as long as Maliki and Daawa are in power and this is why they lobby strongly for him. The sad part is that the Iranian regime cannot be trusted and Sulaimani would smoke them faster than the Central government if their role is over.

Observer, certainly that’s relevant, but what can we do about it other than stage a coup? IMO, the best way to get peoples’ focus off of Iran and an imminent second coming is to make economic reforms to make life more worth living in the here and now. Revitalize the private sector and get rid of a centrally planned economy. Let people begin to taste the good life. Of course, that task is difficult when everyone’s objective is grabbing a bigger slice of the pie through corruption and/or political manipulations. A more privatized economy limits the opportunities for graft and corruption.

This amount of speculation about Shiite thinking is extremely counter-productive. First of all, with respect to the coming of Imam al-Mahdi, it is a matter of shiite aqeedah (religious belief) that his coming will happen. I can assure you that al-Maliki (and any god-fearing/religious shiite for that matter) believes in al-Mahdi. However to jump to the conclusion that it is necessary that Iraq maintain close ties with the mullahs of Iran is absoletely unfounded. I know many Iranians in the USA for that matter who despise the mullahs of their country and pray to God everyday for the arrival of the Mahdi so that he may crush Khamenei/Ahmedinejad and their goons.

Most Iraqi shia I know who are religious also believe in the Mahdi, but they all know that Iran is up to no good in Iraq. I have said this over and over, but it seems to be falling on deaf ears. The biggest mistake that the Americans and Saudis have made in post-Saddam Iran (and the gulf) is to equate shiism with being pro-iran. In fact, the mullahs of Iran and suleimani exploit these ideas to divide up the shia political factions of Iraq so that each is weakened and can be easily ruled by Iran out of pure fear.

Do not tell shiites what is in their hearts (fear of “karma”). On one level it is comical, but on another level it is dehumanizing and is pure non-sense and infuriating. Treat people with respect and just realize that whether people are religious/secural/atheist/agnostic, shiite, sunni, kurd, jew or christian, or hindu, it is not fear of God that drives their daily thinking, but probably has more to do with Darwinian/evolutionary/survival traits. A shiite can tell you he believes in the Mahdi, but I assure you what dominates day-to-day thinking is how to amass more wealth/power for one’s family and close associates. You can see this from the garbage collector to the prime minister.

Unfortunately, the examples we have around the Gulf shows shiites that unless the have a firm grip on power, they will be destined for getting a very small share of the pie. Just look at Bahrain. They are the majority, and were brutally supressed. Santana, you said that the Bahraini shiites are better off than Iraqi shiites. It might be true for some Iraqi shiites, but look at the disparity between Bahraini sunnis and shiites and it is huge (nobody can say otherwise). Great documentary on al-jazeera english came out yesterday about this (just look at the dilapidated houses the bahraini shiites live in..google: “shouting in the dark” and bahrain). It is about relative prosperity and pecking order in one’s society. Saudi Arabia is the same thing. Iraqi shia do not want to see the same thing happen to them. Iran exploits this fear as a means for iran to influence iraqi shiite politicians. So the Saudis don’t want to surrender some of their wealth to the disadvantaged saudi shia, and the feel this might happen if shia in the gulf observe that their brethren are empowered in Iraq. It’s all about power, not al-Mahdi. And yes, the Iranian government would crush their own “shiite” people without hesitation just like the Bahraini govt did to hold on to their illigimate power.

Now what guides al-Maliki is how to ensure that power by his group is not diminished in the long run. So he is packing all the ministries and government with people who are close to him. It is really no different than any politician in the west or east. The saudis and bahraini governments are packed with royal family loyalists. For that matter, when Obama became president, there are certain jobs that only go to loyalists period (part of the spoils of power system). And who gets those jobs? Maliki just doesnt enough loyal people with PhDs from Stanford and Harvard, so he picks loyal Dawah people who may be high school drop-outs. If Allawi was in al-Maliki’s position, he would pack them with people that he knew (probably ex-baathists or secular arabs he has chummed around with, and yes they would probably be more educated, but I couldn’t vouch for them being more moral/just).

The Iraqi govt is bringing in something like 5-7 billion dollars a month in oil exports. Do you really think that Qassem Suleimani has that kind of money to throw around to al-Maliki or Talibani? He might be their sugar daddy but they don’t need 10 million dollars from him when they can find clever ways from skimming off 7 billion dollars or Iraqi monthly revenues. If it was purely a money game, the Saudis must be morons because there is no way Iran can compete against Saudi Arabia when it comes to bribing politicians—they just don’t have the money. There are greater geo-political power politics at play. The shiites have been effectively split into 3 groups (dawah, sadrists, and isci), and that leaves al-Maliki vulnerable to Iran, and he tolerates Iran so that sunnis do not dominate Iraq and get a hold of the 5-7 billion dollars for themselves. You guys might think that al-Maliki is paranoid, but I assure that most “religious” shiites remember history and see all the injustice done to shiites in neighboring countries, and that drives their paranoia, just like Saudi are paranoid that every shiite really just loves iran.
And maybe talibani owes iran for helping him against Barzani in the 90s..or something..I don’t have the kind of inside info that Santana or Observer do….

I hope I dont die of a heart attack tonight when al-abbas strikes me for besmirching the mullahs of Iran. LOL santana….

You may think it is simplistic but when you live in Iraq, you will find out that the leaders of She3a Islamic parties truly believe that the coming is immanent. I can not say that Maliki believes this, but many of the mid level and rank and file do……