Clerics are politicians. It is true in the Middle East and it is true here in the US. Thus, clerics are afflicted with the opportunism and shiftiness that characterize the careers of politicians. Take Shi`ite cleric Hani Fahs in Lebanon. This guy was a traditional cleric in the 1960s, and he then joined the Fath movement when it was strong in the 1970s. He later became close to the Shi`ite parties in the 1980s. And since the Hummus Revolution, he has become a Hariri mouthpiece.