BAGHDAD, Aug. 6, 2008
Iraqi Pols Break Without Election Deal
Parliament Adjourns With Adoption Of Budget, But No Agreement On Provincial Elections
-
Prisoners wait for their hands to be unbound by Iraqi police officers after being released from U.S. military custody in the Dora area of southern Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Loay Hameed)
-
Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
-
Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
Parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said the lawmakers would resume sessions on Sept. 9. He ordered a committee to continue negotiations over the election bill and said a special session could be called if agreement is reached.
The decision to go into summer recess came after lawmakers failed to break a deadlock over Kurdish opposition to a power-sharing formula for the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk despite days of intense negotiations and heavy pressure from U.S. and U.N. officials.
Officials involved in preparations for the elections - which the U.S. believes are a necessary step toward national reconciliation - have said such a delay would likely push voting to next year.
Deputy parliamentary speaker Khalid al-Attiyah, however, insisted the provincial elections could be held this year as long as the legislation is passed in September.
Adoption of the elections law had been linked with the budget proposal, which needed to be approved before the lawmakers could adjourn, according to the constitution.
Parliament adjourned for the summer break last week but met four days in a special session to try to approve the budget and election bills.
Finance Minister Bayan Jabr has said passage of the supplemental budget would augment the overall budget by some US$70 billion this year and is needed for food rations, fuel for power plants and raises for civil servants.
Approval of the budget measure came as U.S. lawmakers complained that the Iraqis were not paying enough for their own reconstruction.
A General Accounting Office report released Tuesday said Iraq could end the year with as much as a US$79 billion budget surplus as oil revenues pile on top of leftover income the Iraqis still haven't spent on their national rebuilding effort.
U.S. officials said Wednesday that Iraq is paying for more of its own reconstruction, but is still struggling to spend its multibillion dollar surplus as it copes with a flood of oil revenue and a cumbersome approval process meant to curb corruption.
The main sticking point on the election bill was Kurdish opposition to a plan that would equally divide the provincial council seats for Tamim province, of which Kirkuk is the capital, among Kurds, Turkomen and Arabs.
Kurds and their allies currently hold a majority on the council and fear a dilution of their power as they seek to annex the oil-rich area into their semiautonomous territory to the north.
Iraq's largest Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, called for a vote on the measure to be delayed until after a monthlong summer break that parliament had been due to begin last week.
In other developments:
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment
- Think about it - who benefits from the polls NOT going ahead? Maliki was set for a hammering, anti-US shiites were set to make massive gains. US and Maliki benefit, thats why the polls are not going ahead and especially this side of the US Nov election.
- Reply to this comment
- There just following are lead.
- Reply to this comment
- DID NOT THEY JUST HAVE A COUPLE MONTH SUMMER BREAK?
SOUNDS LIKE THEY GET THEIR COMMITMENT FROM THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION! - Reply to this comment
- How has it come to this? FU*K IRAQ!
- Reply to this comment
- Apparently Iraq''s parliament doesn''t think its important to get the US out of their country. The UNITED STATES needs to start Billing the IRAQ''s for no progress and draging their feet.
I think 200 Million Dollars a day sound like a great number and we will take our payments in FREE OIL.
That should get the LAZY BASS-TARDS IN THE Iraq''s parliament ON THE BALL. - Reply to this comment
- Surge, no surge, more violence, less violence. None of it matters because the Iraqis are not going to get serious about running their own country until they are faced with our imminent departure.
The Iraqis have been trained, they have plenty of their own money now, all they lack is an incentive.
The sight of US troops boarding planes headed home would be a great incentive.
On the other hand, McCain thinks we should be there holding their hands forever. - Reply to this comment
- "This is what happens when you put liberal Democrats in charge - they waste time, and frivolously waste your taxdollars"--Posted by OneAmerican
Once again I am going to expalin this to you neo cons you had your day and it came and went. All your crying now will only seek to anger us more. Stop acting like you just feel off the turnup truck and go back home. - Reply to this comment
- Iraqi Pols Break Without Election Deal
Parliament Adjourns With Adoption Of Budget, But No Agreement On Provincial Elections
#####
Wasn''t that a benchmark for the surge??? - Reply to this comment
- "This is what happens when you put liberal Democrats in charge - they waste time, and frivolously waste your taxdollars"--Posted by OneAmerican
Except--it''s been the Neocon Republicans in charge for the last 8 years who have increased our national debt by over 50% and turned a budget surplus into a deficit.
Duuuuhhhhh! - Reply to this comment
- Wow. It looks like the Iraqi Parliament is getting more work accomplishing than the Pelosi-Reid Congress is!
Of course, Nancy Pelosi thinks its more important for her to run around the country peddaling her atrocious self-agrandizing book than to do the business she was elected to do.
Actually they have accomplished something - if you believe that establishing a National Apple Day is an accomplishment.
This is what happens when you put liberal Democrats in charge - they waste time, and frivolously waste your taxdollars. - Reply to this comment
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
