Parliament still drifting despite U.S. pressure
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 pressuring Iraqi leaders to prove their determination to overcome sectarian strife by approving landmark legislation before the Bush administration’s next report to Congress on Iraq in mid-September.
But even as parliament’s monthlong August break approaches, key issues are not under discussion. Quorums are marginal, or fleeting.
Despite the high stakes, the Iraqi parliament appears to be deliberating at a plodding pace to rival legislative bodies around the world.
On Thursday, the parliament’s 50th session of the year, members convened a half-hour late. The opening Muslim prayer and 275-name roll call took another half-hour, a quarter of the time in what turned out to be a roughly two-hour session.
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 members walked out after the first vote, leaving them perilously close to losing their quorum. The speaker has dismissed parliament in the past for falling below quorum with fewer than 100 legislators, but on Thursday, they proceeded.
Those present circulated an agenda of 11 items, none related to the benchmark legislation Washington has been demanding, including laws concerning oil investment and revenue-sharing between regions; re-integrating former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime into government; disarming militias; and mounting local elections. Some members say the modest agendas actually discussed at parliament meetings are a symptom of parliament’s inability to overcome sectarian divisions and cobble together the two-thirds majority needed to pass substantive legislation.
“There’s a deficit in our performance, both in quantity and quality, especially when it comes to (passing) legislation. The fact of the matter is our will is big, but our action is too little,” said Saleem Abdullah, a member of the Sunni Tawafaq bloc who missed the parliament session for other official business. “It will affect the (American) view of the success of the political process in Iraq. It will show there haven’t been any achievements in the political process.”
The parliament is under pressure from many in Washington and from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to stay at work the rest of the summer. But having already sacrificed one month of vacation in July, and shifted from three- to six-day workweeks, many are unwilling to give up their August break and unlikely to make progress before it starts next week.
“The prime minister cannot simply will something to be done – each bloc has its views and the prime minister has enormous challenges,” a senior U.S. embassy officer said Thursday. “He is frustrated, as are we (here and at home in the U.S.).”
Al-Maliki’s spokesman, Ali Dabbagh, blamed legislative delays on tension between political blocs in parliament and the Cabinet. On Wednesday, legislators from the largest Sunni bloc withdrew from the Cabinet, stalling a portion of the oil law, he said.
Still, President Bush remained upbeat Thursday about parliament’s efforts.
“The Iraqi parliament has passed quite a few pieces of legislation and they’re trying to work through their differences,” Bush told an organization of state officials in Philadelphia. “Sometimes legislative bodies aren’t real smooth in getting out a piece of legislation in a timely fashion, as some of you might recognize, but nevertheless, they’re working hard learning what it means to have a parliament that functions.”
Thursday’s session began in earnest with members congratulating the national soccer team on its Wednesday victory over South Korea in the Asian Cup. One member mocked South Korea as a “paper tiger.” Another chided him, saying sports should unite not divide countries. That ate up about 10 minutes. Then the chair of the sports committee took the podium and chastised the lawmakers.
“Our team promised us they would win. Where are the politicians who promised us electricity and cold water?” said Hassan Othman, who leads the sports committee.
No one responded.