Those present chastise their absent colleagues. Among the public, resentment grows over what some see as greed amid the bloodshed.
By Louise Roug
Los Angeles Times, 06 September 2006
BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers returned to work Tuesday, some traveling from the Kurdish north, others from the Sunni Arab west or the Shiite south.
About one-third didn't show up.
After a monthlong vacation, the large number of no-shows at a short parliamentary session prompted dismay among colleagues and created confusion about voting rules.
"No more orphans, no more widows," Mahmoud Mashadani, speaker of parliament and a Sunni Arab, declared in his opening statement, in front of rows of empty chairs.
During the brief session, legislators passed a one-month extension of a state of emergency amid the nation's unrelenting violence.
"The elected leaders of Iraq are certain that terrorists and murderers will not succeed, no matter how arrogant and insolent they are," Mashadani said.
But the grand rhetoric rang hollow to many Iraqis, who in December proudly held up purple ink-stained fingers after risking their lives to vote. Some feel betrayed by their elected leaders and express little confidence in the government's ability to secure the country or improve basic services.
"During the Jihad massacre, they had closed sessions discussing their salaries and bargaining on how many cars they can get," said Ali Abdullah, a 31-year-old Sunni engineer in west Baghdad, referring to recent sectarian bloodshed in the capital. "People were being slaughtered and they were worrying about themselves."
At Tuesday's session, which had been postponed once because so many legislators had not returned from their summer holiday, 180 of 275 representatives were present.
Safiya Suhail, a secular Shiite lawmaker wearing a white pantsuit and white spiky boots, was one of the lawmakers who attended the session. Suhail, with the Iraqiya slate, described the turnout as "shameful."
Her colleague Haider Abadi of the Islamic Dawa Party said he was disappointed with his colleagues. "It shows a lack of responsibility, and we have to address it," said the Shiite lawmaker, who wore a pinstriped suit. He said he and others have discussed financial penalties for parliament members who are often absent.
Legislators have a three-day workweek and are paid $5,000 per month plus $7,000 in allowances for drivers, guards and other staff members. By comparison, the average monthly salary for a civil servant in Iraq is about $200.
After the December elections, Sumaya Ali, a 31-year-old Shiite accountant in Baghdad, was optimistic. But the lawlessness of the capital is eroding her faith.
"My hope is dying," she said. "The parliament members only think about their salaries while the situation is very critical in the country."
Iraq's most revered and influential religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and his representatives have become increasingly critical of what they see as fat cats and corruption.
"Citizens expect, and they are right to do so, that parliament members and high-ranking officials share their agony and hardship," Sistani said in a recent statement.
But many lawmakers live in government-sponsored villas and apartments in the heavily guarded Green Zone, enjoying a world of security and privilege where the streets are clean and the electricity is constant.
On the other side of concrete barriers, checkpoints and concertina wire, sectarian warfare threatens to pull the country apart. Fear and violence keep many people at home, unable to work or attend school.
Millions of Iraqis live in poverty. Malnutrition afflicts a quarter of the country's children. Unemployment remains at a record high. Fuel shortages are chronic. Electricity is scarce.
Alyaa Ahmed, a 38-year-old Shiite mother of four, said she feared sending her children back to school. Killers regularly dump bodies in the streets of her west Baghdad neighborhood. She had little time for politicians, and had not seen the televised session Tuesday.
"We had no electricity but even if I had electricity, I wouldn't trouble myself," she said. "They only talk."
"A long time but with few accomplishments," agreed Wael Abdul Latif, a lawmaker with the Iraqiya slate, as he described the previous session.
During that session, four minor laws were passed in five months, two of them concerning government employment.
Latif feared that parliament might again get bogged down in the kind of minutiae that beset previous meetings.
"This is a stage when the parliament must work," he said. "The country is flooded with blood."
Despite American-led security efforts, the carnage has continued in Baghdad and beyond. On Tuesday, authorities reported 33 people killed.
Three Americans — two Marines and a sailor assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 — were killed Monday in Al Anbar province, according to a statement from the U.S. military.
In the capital, gunmen killed six people, including three Shiite pilgrims, in various attacks. Police recovered at least 15 bodies in and around Baghdad, authorities said. In south Baghdad, armed and masked men, believed to be affiliated with Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, set up checkpoints. After American soldiers arrived in the area, the checkpoints disappeared.
In Baqubah, north of the capital, gunmen killed six civilians in separate attacks, and two cellphone towers were destroyed. Assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a police patrol in the city, killing three officers.
Two bombs that exploded near the home of a prominent sheik in Samarra killed three people, including a 6-year-old child, and injured five, including the sheik's daughter.
Times staff writers Raheem Salman, Saif Hameed and Zainab Hussein contributed to this report.
---------------------------------
Citation: Louise Roug. "A Third of Lawmakers in Iraq Skip Session," Los Angeles Times, 06 September 2006.
Original URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-iraq6sep06,1,5248997.story?coll=la-iraq-complete
---------------------------------