In news from Iraq, the country’s leading Shiite cleric the Ayatollah Sistani has given his backing to the interim government. Meanwhile UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has described the head of the US occupation, Paul Bremer, in unusually blunt terms. He said “Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He has the money. He has the signature.” The Washington Post reports two Marines have plead guilty to electronically shocking an Iraqi prisoner.