BAGHDAD — Missing from Thursday's session of the Iraqi parliament were about
half of the members, including the speaker, the former speaker and two former
prime ministers.
Also missing: a sense of urgency.
American
officials have been pressing Iraqi leaders to prove their commitment to ending
sectarian strife by enacting landmark legislation before mid-September, when the
Bush administration is to present its next report on Iraq to Congress.
But even as parliament's monthlong August break approaches, key issues
aren't being discussed. Quorums are marginal, or fleeting.
Despite the
high stakes here, the Iraqi parliament appears to be deliberating at a pace to
rival plodding legislative bodies around the world.
Thursday's session,
the 50th of the year, convened half an hour late.
A bell rang in the
Convention Center in the fortified Green Zone reminding members to take their
seats and raise their hands for roll call (the electronic system is broken). It
showed 145 in attendance. That dropped to 137 as some members walked out after
the first vote. The speaker on occasion has dismissed parliament for falling
below the quorum of 100 legislators, but on Thursday, they proceeded. The
opening Muslim prayer and 275-name roll call took half an hour, a quarter of the
time, in what turned out to be a roughly two-hour session.
And that's in the lead-up to their August vacation.
What are we fighting for again?
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