Ali al-Sistani — supplementary: 2003 Bremer-exchange + elected-constitutional-council doctrine

From Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (b. 1930, Iranian-born Iraqi Shia marja al-taqlid based in Najaf; one of the four Maraji al-Taqlid (Sources of Emulation) for global Shia Islam; the dominant Shia religious authority in post-2003 Iraq; gave the foundational 2003 fatwas mandating Iraqi elections and rejecting US-imposed constitutional drafting; gave the 13 June 2014 fatwa mandating Iraqi-Shia armed resistance to ISIS that produced the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi)):

(SUPPLEMENTARY ROW: separate from the existing Sistani 2014 fatwa row already staged. This row captures the 2003 Bremer-exchange doctrinal moments.)

2003 (Sistani to CPA Administrator Paul Bremer III, declining direct meeting and communicating through aides; this exchange is one of the most documented examples of Sistani's refusal to participate in US-led constitutional drafting):
'Mr. Bremer, you are an American and I am an Iranian. I suggest we leave it up to the Iraqis to devise their constitution.'
[NOTE: Sistani's framing of himself as 'an Iranian' in this exchange is historically accurate (he was born in Mashhad, Iran 1930) and was meant to disclaim direct interference in Iraqi politics. The framing has been cited repeatedly as evidence of Sistani's distinct doctrinal positioning vs both US occupation and Iranian Velayat-e-Faqih.]

29 November 2003 (Sistani's foundational 2003 fatwa on the Transitional Administrative Law / constitutional drafting process):
'The council that will write the constitution should be elected, not hand-picked... The constitution will be illegal if it is written by a council, whether that is chosen by the Americans or by what is called the Governing Council or by anyone else.'
[NOTE: This 29 November 2003 Sistani fatwa is the foundational doctrinal articulation of post-2003 Iraqi constitutional legitimacy. It forced the US-led CPA to abandon plans to have an appointed body draft the constitution and instead hold the January 2005 elections that produced the Transitional National Assembly, which then drafted the 2005 Iraqi Constitution.]

On Israeli goods (Sistani religious-ruling, on consumer behavior of Muslims):
'It is not permissible for a Muslim to buy products of the countries that are in a state of war with Islam and Muslims, for example, Israel.'

On personal asceticism (Sistani famously lives in extreme austerity in Najaf):
'People are not finding potable water and you're bringing me juice? No.'
[NOTE: Sistani rarely gives public addresses or media interviews; most quotations come through secondary sources via his aides and representatives. The asceticism framing is widely-cited by Sistani biographers.]