Word: crocker
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...immediately swamped by the subprime mortgage crisis. "I haven't had a moment to dwell on" the Presidential race, Dodd joked. Likewise, Biden, who heads up the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been busy with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hosting General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker last month for hearings. "You could not pay me, under no circumstances would I want to be majority leader," Biden said with a chuckle...
...Najaf, the quiet holy city in southern Iraq where Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani lives. Sistani, the most venerated Shi'ite religious leader in the country, shuns the limelight. But it fell his way last week nonetheless when Iraqi Prime Ministry Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker appeared in Najaf separately within days of each other. It raised questions whether Sistani is making a comeback as a voice in political decision-making in Iraq...
...bilateral agreement that will spell out conditions for a U.S. presence in Iraq beyond next year, when the current U.N. mandate ends. A number of contentious issues, such as the presence of permanent U.S. military bases and the ability of U.S. forces to arrest and detain Iraqis, remain unresolved. Crocker, who did not meet with Sistani, was in Najaf to meet with local leaders but he addressed how the talks over the bilateral security agreement were shaping up. "We are in negotiations, and when that negotiation ends there will be an agreement," said Crocker, who spoke in Arabic addressing...
...Crocker, who said he had been to Najaf only once before, visited amid speculation that Sistani is losing patience with the U.S. presence in Iraq. In recent days, there have been reports that Sistani has been quietly issuing religious edicts, or fatwas, calling for the armed resistance to U.S. forces. Such a move by Sistani would essentially mark a reversal of his passive cooperation with the U.S. enterprise in Iraq to date. However, Sistani's aides deny the reports. "Nothing like that came from the office of the ayatollah," said Hamid al-Kahfaff, a spokesman for Sistani in Najaf...
Both Maliki and Crocker stand to gain by keeping Sistani happy and supportive of their political efforts, since hopes that Sadr would drop the renegade routine dissipated as the Mahdi Army battled with government forces across southern Iraq and Baghdad in the last two months. With Sadr on the outs, Sistani rises again as a kind of godfather figure whose silence can be interpreted as tacit support, particularly when leaders such as Maliki are seen as consulting him. Sistani maintained his usual silence as Crocker wrapped up his visit to Najaf Saturday. But there is little doubt about the renewed...