Cleric tacitly backs new government

Videotape showsthree Italians taken hostage in Iraq.
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric gave his tacit endorsement to the new interim government today and urged it to lobby the U.N. Security Council for full sovereignty to erase "all traces" of the American-run occupation.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani said the new government, appointed Tuesday by a U.N. envoy, lacks the "legitimacy of elections" and does not represent "in an acceptable manner all segments of Iraqi society and political forces."
"Nevertheless, it is hoped that this government will prove its efficiency and integrity and show resolve to carry out the enormous tasks that rest on its shoulders," al-Sistani said in a statement released by his office here.
Very influential
Al-Sistani's opposition to the government would have severely undermined its credibility because of the cleric's influence among Iraq's Shiite majority, believed to comprise about 60 percent of the country's 25 million people.
Al-Sistani's objections to U.S. policy in Iraq effectively derailed at least two blueprints put forward by Washington to chart the political future of Iraq.
He had demanded elections to choose the government to take power from the U.S.-run occupation at the end of this month but dropped his insistence after U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi decided that an early ballot was not possible because of poor security.
Iraqis will choose a transitional government by the end of January and elect a new administration after ratification of the new constitution next year.
With the new government set to take over in weeks, al-Sistani said the main tasks were to secure Iraq's sovereignty, relieve the suffering of its people, restore security and prepare for the January elections.
"The new government should get a clear resolution from the U.N. Security Council restoring sovereignty to Iraqis -- a full and complete sovereignty in all its political, economic, military and security forms and endeavor to erase all traces of the occupation," al-Sistani's statement said.
Italian hostages
Meanwhile, three Italians taken hostage in Iraq were shown in a video broadcast Wednesday in Italy.
Four Italian men working as private guards in Iraq were kidnapped April 12. Soon after, the captors executed one, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, and issued a videotape of his killing.
The latest footage came with a written message from the captors that urged the Italian people to demonstrate against the policies of President Bush and the government of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. The previous video in April came with a similar demand.
The footage shown Wednesday on the Al-Jazeera satellite network -- and immediately rebroadcast on Italian television -- depicted the three remaining hostages eating and sitting in chairs before the camera. The men were bearded and a little haggard but seemed not to have been physically harmed.
One of the hostages, Salvatore Stefio, addressed the camera and stated the date as Monday, May 31.
"This message is directed to the official Italian establishments, the government, the pope, and our families," he said. "We have been treated excellently until now. We are in excellent condition. We haven't met any problems from the people who are keeping us in this place."
An Iraqi armed group calling itself the Green Brigade has said it was behind the abductions.
It was the first video of the men since April 26, when Arab TV channel Al-Arabiya showed footage of the three eating food from a large pot with their fingers. That tape also came with a demand for protests, and the hostages' families responded a few days later.
They and several thousand others marched April 29 to St. Peter's Square, describing it as a peace rally and insisting they were not giving in to the captors. Pope John Paul II sent a message to the marchers, saying he had celebrated Mass for the captives and urging them to keep their spirits up.
In Iraq
In Iraq, fighting broke out today between U.S. soldiers and Shiite militiamen in nearby Kufa -- the eighth straight day of clashes since a deal last week to end the violence.
Five Iraqis were killed and 11 injured in the skirmishes in Najaf's twin city and stronghold of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, hospital officials said. Smoke rose over the dun-colored, flat-roofed houses of the city 100 miles south of Baghdad.
Fighting has rocked Kufa nearly every day since Shiite leaders announced May 27 that al-Sadr had agreed on a formula to end the confrontation with the Americans in Najaf and Kufa, which together contain some of the most sacred shrines in Shia Islam.
Clashes in Kufa
Although Najaf is relatively quiet, daily clashes in Kufa have rendered the truce almost meaningless. The Americans, who consider al-Sadr a gangster, have refused direct negotiations with him but have agreed to halt "offensive operations."
However, the Army has retained the right to mount armed patrols, which al-Sadr's militia, the al-Mahdi Army, considers a provocation. The Americans are reluctant to stop patrols until an Iraqi force is ready to assume security responsibility. Most of the police here deserted after al-Sadr launched his rebellion in early April.