Punchup In Iraqi Parliament

By Cernig

You know that Iraqi parliament that Cheney tried to bully into getting down to passing reconcilliation measures? He'd have more success if he punched one or two of them, it seems. From the Irish Examiner yesterday:

Iraq’s parliament speaker slapped a fellow Sunni Arab lawmaker on the face today as he was leaving a stormy session in which he accused “three-quarters” of the house’s 275 members of involvement in sectarian violence.

Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has a track record of violent behaviour and is given to making undiplomatic comments about MPS and members of the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

Some MPs have in the past accused him of running the chamber like a coffee shop.

Last year, he survived a campaign by Shiite and Kurdish politicians to have him removed following controversial comments in which he said Iraqis who killed American troops should be celebrated as heroes.

This hasn't ben reported in the U.S. at all. Hardly surprising, really. If people knew the level of political debate and co-operation the Iraqis could actually sustain, the White House wouldn't be able to fool so many that there's even a sqeak of a chance of them getting their act together before September or even next September.