First Door on the Left

Why do we even bother? It’s not like they have a functioning government, anyway.

BAGHDAD, July 30 — Iraq’s Parliament headed into a monthlong summer recess on Monday, halting work despite calls from the United States and the prime minister for lawmakers to shorten their break to push through important legislation.

The decision to take off the month of August almost surely eliminates hopes that the 275-member Council of Representatives will pass laws sought by American officials as evidence that the country is making progress toward stability.

The United States was hoping for movement on measures meant to reduce sectarian strife. One would divide revenue from Iraq’s vast oil wealth equitably among the country’s factions; another would promote reconciliation with Iraq’s once-ruling Sunni minority by allowing some former members of the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein back into senior jobs.

President Bush has been among those who have pressed the prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, to ask lawmakers to take a shorter vacation, according to the president’s aides. And critics of the Iraqi government have noted that while Parliament is in recess, American and Iraqi troops will continue fighting and patrolling the streets despite the 120-degree summer temperatures.