Remember when everyone from Thomas Friedman to National Review was clamoring for a Nobel Peace Prize for the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani?

Me, I was always stopped cold by Sistani's "najis" list. You've heard of "My Favorite Things" ("Rainbows on roses and whiskers on kittens...")? Well, the najis list, as it appeared on Sistani's multilingual website, was what you might call His Un-favorite Things. They included urine, feces and other excretions, along with dogs, pigs, and "kafirs"--unbelievers in Islam. Call me crazy, but I always found it hard to cosy up to  Sistani after that--and particularly after hearing about his ruling that homosexuals "should be killed in the worst manner possible." Then there is the fact that he has retained his Iranian citizenship, which always seemed a tad bit troubling. Still, there's no accounting for taste.

Now, Jihadwatch has picked up on an AP story reporting on Sistani's latest tricks: Namely, that "Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad."

Now he's sure to get that Nobel.