For the New York Times, it is not news unless reported by....MEMRI. The New York Times today said this: " So far, the most prominent Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has remained silent." Is it not amazing that they would say that more than 3 days after Sistani (and you all know I am no fan of him--or of any cleric, priest, minister, etc) released a statement condemning Israel (see Angry Arab below)? This shows you how (un)reliable the New York Times is on the Middle East, or on anywhere. But in fairness to New York Times. Sistani did not release the statement in English so alas the New York Times correspondents could read it.