Councilmember: Shiite cleric swayed CPA

The U.S. government's reversal on Iraqi elections announced this week came after several members of the Iraqi Governing Council delivered a message from the top Shiite religious cleric that insisted a new constitution must be written by elected Iraqi representatives, according to Raja Habib al-Khazal, a council member who met with the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Sestani in Najaf.

ed: every time I read about Sestani (alternatively spelled Sistani), I find him to be a man revered in his wisdom, and everything I read seems to back that assessment, but i just can't fathom that his words alone, carried by a few members of the IGC, could create such a dramatic shift in American policy in Iraq