As Sadr continues to develop his strategy and following in Iraq, the cleric who really does have the most power in the country, Ayatollah Sistani, has been overlooked recently, in part because he's been relatively quiet. Wonk Room (with ThinkProgress) takes a look at how this is developing politically, drawing a parallel to past clerical rivalries in which the elder Sadr authorities often spoke out against Saddam's rule more than others, earning them credibility just as Moqtada earns it today with his anti-U.S. stance. More importantly for the lives of Iraqis, criticism isn't the only thing Sadrists do:
One of the central elements of the elder Sadr’s program (and now of Muqtada’s) was a distinction between the “silent clerics” (represented by Sistani and the Najaf establishment) — bookish sorts who stay remote from the lives of their people — and the “speaking clerics” who take part in the suffering and struggle of the Shia, as Sadeq did. And here the “silent clerics” once again stayed silent while Shia were crushed in Sadr City, of all places, while medical care, food, and shelter are being doled out in Muqtada’s name. It doesn’t require any math to see that Sadr benefits politically from this.
The administration continues to both misunderstand and underestimate the power of social movements in Iraq, and Sadr's is arguably the most powerful and influential. And if were were providing the kinds of services that he is, he wouldn't have been able to step into that void.
