This was an event ... that really shook Iraq to its core because the late ayatollah was a very powerful figure among the Shiites in the post-Saddam Hussein era.

This was an event ... that really shook Iraq to its core because the late ayatollah was a very powerful figure among the Shiites in the post-Saddam Hussein era,

No, that was all lies.

said to me in Arabic, 'Which one of you is Riad?'

They sound stressed. They don't sound like they're having a good time.

He's somebody you can rely on to get a good reading of the local situation -- and certainly not the sort of person you would expect to fall into a situation like this.