Where was Sistani???

Over at MEJ last week we reported that River at Baghdad Burning was asking "Where is Sistani"?

Furthermore, where is Sistani? Why isn't he saying anything about the situation? When the South was being attacked, Sunni clerics everywhere decried the attacks. Where is Sistani now, when people are looking to him for some reaction? The silence is deafening.

Juan Cole reports that the Arab press has picked up that question.

Al-Hayat, Ja`far al-Ahmar: The battle of Fallujah uncovered some of the fissures, contradictions, and criticisms that had not been admitted by any local, Arab or regional party. The reaction to the American assault on Fallujah has been muted among Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and other major Shiite clerics, leading to angry editorials in the Arabic press decrying "silence" and "collaboration with the Americans in implementing their crimes in Fallujah."

At he same time Sistani is trying to establish a Shiite power base. If the elections in January are boycotted by the Sunnis, as they have threatened, the Kurds may boycott as well to insure that a Shiite controlled government does not have the appearance of legitimacy. After years of oppression the main concern of the Shiite leaders is a big piece of the political pie. Can a religious civil war be too far away?