Shiite cleric backs Iraqi constitution

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The country's most powerful Shiite cleric endorsed the draft constitution Thursday, rejecting opposition voiced by two popular leaders of Iraq's majority sect and underlining a rift also on display in anti-British violence in the southern city of Basra.

Two officials in the Shiite Muslim hierarchy in Najaf said Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called senior aides together and told them to promote a "yes" vote among the faithful during the Oct. 15 national referendum on the constitution.

The officials refused to be identified because they are not authorized to speak for al-Sistani, who only issues statements through his office and makes no public appearances.

Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs, who lost power and privilege with the fall of Saddam Hussein in the U.S.-led invasion, are deeply opposed to the constitution. They form the bulk of the country's violent insurgency and have stepped up attacks on Shiites in advance of the vote.

In Amman, Jordan, about 150 Iraqi Sunni clerics and tribal leaders called for the rejection of the constitution, warning the charter would lead to the fragmentation of Iraq. The local leaders from Iraq's insurgency-torn Anbar province, the country's Sunni heartland, met for a a three-day conference in the Jordanian capital for security reasons.

"We urge all the Iraqi people to go to the polls and say no to the constitution," Sheik Abdul-Latif Himayem, a prominent cleric from the Anbar capital, Ramadi, told The Associated Press.

Some officials saw a Shiite split in play during the violence this week in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra, where British troops clashed with mobs and smashed into a jail while rescuing two soldiers.

Anthony Cordesman of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Affairs, said the escalation of tension in Basra underscored the simmering rift among Shiite factions ahead of the referendum and parliamentary elections in December.

"In large part, this is a reaction to a struggle between hard-liners and more moderate religious elements," he said.