Summer Recess for the Iraqi Parliament

The Iraq parliament has begun its summer break.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament went into summer recess for a month on Monday after political leaders failed to agree on a series of laws that Washington sees as crucial to stabilizing the country.

Lawmakers said the government had yet to present them with any of the laws. The parliament had earlier signaled its intention to go into recess in August after cutting short its summer break that normally starts in July.

"We do not have anything to discuss in the parliament, no laws or constitutional amendments, nothing from the government. Differences between the political factions have delayed the laws," Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman told Reuters.

The White House is in damage control mode because its warmongering, oil-grubbing base is unhappy:

White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, said the adjournment did not mean reconciliation work would halt.

"The process of reconciliation will not go on recess. Iraqi leaders will continue to work towards a political accommodation where Sunni, Shia and Kurd can all work together in the unity government."

And anyone who opposes that recess had better be prepared to demand that the US congress not take any more breaks while the Iraq war is going on because anything less is hypocritical, especially since this do-nothing congress is not only also taking a break - it's going to give itself a nice little pay raise too.

And let's face it, with the news of a "Big U.S. presence in Iraq until mid-2009" according to general Petraeus (and for years after that, of course), does it really matter if Iraqi politicians take a few weeks off? It's not like they're actually running their own country anyway since they are constantly under the Bush administration's thumb. And, speaking of Bush, I'll look forward to seeing him cancel his summer break at Crawford too. Oh right - he has brush to clear. Sorry.
 

Impeachment On: Apply Directly to the Congress

Information Clearing House calls this video clip "How to create an Angry American". I call it "How to create an Angry World".

Sunday Food for Thought: Mark Twain on Congress

Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
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It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
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Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.
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...I never can think of Judas Iscariot without losing my temper. To my mind Judas Iscariot was nothing but a low, mean, premature, Congressman.
("Foster's Case", New York Tribune, 3/10/1873)

Video: Coming Soon - the CIA's 'Family Jewels'

Via The CNN Beard:


Wolf's underlings are slacking on getting the show's transcripts up, but I wanted to highlight Brian Todd's meaningless reassurance that "today there is far more oversight in congress". Yet, as he points out, the wiretappings, kidnappings and other criminal activities are still going on anyway. So what's the use having more oversight? If congress doesn't just rubber stamp whatever the CIA is doing - Republicans and Democrats, by the way - Bush creates his own ways to get around congress and the laws.

Whatever these "family jewels" reveal, they will be received by an American public that knows it has absolutely no control over what the CIA does because what it chooses to do is all in furtherance of Amercian global supremacy and exceptionalism - and those are doctrines that I think I can safely say most Americans support anyway. Oh there's outrage every now and then - about so-called "extraordinary renditions", about torture, about CIA-fueled coups oversees or one or the other CIA operation. Nobody really blinked an eye much when the news broke that Italy charged several CIA agents for allegedly kidnapping an Egyptian cleric. Why should they? Bush is protecting the agents and won't extradite them to stand trial.

So, whatever else these "family jewels" expose, it seems the American publics' senses have already been dulled for decades to the point that nothing the CIA does can actually be seen as surprising anymore. The "jewels" will make interesting reading for political junkies, historians, journalists and bloggers but their revelations will, no doubt, be eclipsed by the next scandalous starlet or blonde woman in peril news story. Remember, Paris Hilton gets out of jail next week and she's making the interview rounds. What do you think Larry King will be talking about? Those boring old CIA stories or Paris' time in the school of hard knocks (where the guards' jingling keys so disturbed her equilibrium)?

And besides, there's that trusty "congressional oversight" to rely on to make sure everything's on the up and up. (Just ignore the fact that congress' approval ratings are in the toilet at a laughable 14% and that Bush sits at 26%. Trustworthy government indeed.)

For those who are interested, Common Dreams has more.