Sistani backs interim government.

In some ways, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani symbolizes the perversity of Iraqis who effectively bite the hand that liberated them by insisting on an impractical and unworkable timetable for elections. Many observers believe that his motivation is simple: that he wants an election while he is still the most influential single Iraqi, and before political parties begin to form that could compete with him, so as to maximize the chances of an Iranian-style religious government being elected. Sistani would then run things from behind the scenes, much in the fashion of Iran's Ayatollah Khameni.

Still, Sistani is no fool. Bowing to the inevitable, while still growling at is liberator, Sistani has given his grudging blessing to the new interim Iraqi government.