IRAQ

Independent: Shia leader set to reject plans for new Iraq

The Bush administration's plans for formally ending the occupation of Iraq face further complications with signs of hardening opposition from the country's most influential Shia Muslim cleric.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has criticised plans by Washington to transfer political responsibility to Iraqis next year as incomplete and believes they pay too little heed to Islam, a Shia politician said yesterday.

His comments, which come as America is struggling to contain a Sunni-led insurgency, will concern Washington's strategists, including Paul Bremer, the US pro-consul in Iraq.

They know Ayatollah Sistani holds great sway over thepoor urban Shias, who comprise 60 per cent of the 25 million population, and has influence over the 25-seat US-appointed Iraqi governing council. Although the Americans do not want their policy determined by a Shia religious leader, they know that many Shia Iraqis would be unlikely to accept proposals that were rejected by him.