Sistani calls to defend government

Ben Mathis-Lilley has a Slate article about the latest from Iraq:

A representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top spiritual leader of the world's Shi'ite Muslims, announced today that all able-bodied Iraq citizens are duty-bound to help fight jihadist ISIS insurgents. Shi'ites hold a majority in Iraq. From The New York Times:

In a statement during Friday prayers, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the senior Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, said it was “the legal and national responsibility of whoever can hold a weapon, to hold it to defend the country, the citizens and the holy sites”.
Ayatollah Sistani has enormous stature among Shi'ites, but is also respected by Sunnis and other groups because, in the darkest days of the sectarian fighting in 2006, he refrained from inflammatory language and repeatedly reached out to Sunnis, Kurds, the country’s Christians, and other minorities.

The rebels have been driving south toward Baghdad. Their advance appears to have been stopped seventy miles from that city for the time being; they did, however, seize two more towns in the country's east today.

Rico says somebody's gonna be stepping in some Shi'ite before this is over...