How can America’save Iraq’ whenIraqis won’t helpthemselves?
Iraq Parliament Exists Only In NameBy Cliff Montgomery – Jan. 24th, 2007It usually doesn’t make the American corporate news, but these days the Iraqi parliament exists only in name. According to a recent article in the New York Times, nearly every session since November has been adjourned because as few as 65 members made it to work, even as they and the absentees earned yearly salaries and benefits worth about $120,000. Such no-shows have brought parliamentary work to a standstill.Of course part of the problem is security; but Iraqi officials also say they suspect that even members of Parliament are losing any remaining confidence in Washington‘s attempt at ‘democratic restructuring’ for a country half way around the world–or what it used to call “fruitless nation-building.”And as the death and chaos has deepened, the relevance of Parliament and democratic procedure has faded.The lack of participation ensures that Parliament can only rubber-stamp the final decisions on such matters as the recent Iraqi oil law–and this only occurs when the legislative body has sufficient numbers. Vital bills involving such matters as the budget, provincial elections and constitutional amendments remain trapped in a legislative process that rarely functions and solves nearly nothing.Senior Iraqi officials have apparently had enough. Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has declared that Parliament members would soon be fined $400 for every missed session, and replaced if they fail to attend a minimum amount of the time.Some of Iraq’s more experienced leaders say attendance has been undermined by a growing disillusionment with the process, especially Parliament’s ability to improve Iraqis’ daily life. Security, the country’s dominant issue, is almost exclusively a matter reserved for the American military and the office of the prime minister.Though the Constitution grants Iraq’s only elected body wide powers to issue laws and investigations, sectarian divisions and the need for a two-thirds majority in certain cases often lead to deadlock. Sunni and Shiite leaders have each blocked efforts to curtail violence connected to their own sects.Parliamentary officials refuse to provide attendance lists for many sessions, fearing retribution. They say the lack of attendance is a problem shared by every sect and region.Every representative is paid about $10,000 a month in salary and benefits, including money for guards. Yet members from Baghdad neighborhoods to small towns in the farthest-flung regions–Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Christians and Turkmen–often make the list of no-shows.Many say one simple problem is that the job is not what members had hoped.“Most of them were here for the game, for prestige, for the money,” Muhammad al-Ahmedawi, a Shiite member of the Fadhila Party, told the Times.“It’s upsetting and disappointing. We want the members to come, to pursue the interests of their constituents, especially in this sensitive time.”He said that politicians who had larger shares of power before the elections appear to view Parliament as a personal loss in power and prestige.Adnan Pachachi, who is in his mid-80s, said he left Iraq for Abu Dhabi a few months ago because his wife needed open-heart surgery and he did not feel that she would receive proper care in one of Baghdad’s broken-down hospitals.But he added that the dangers involved with being a public figure in today’s Iraq has also made it much more difficult to participate in government. Pachachi told the Times he has 40 guards to protect him when he comes to the country, even though the salary from Parliament pays for only 20.“I have protection, and unfortunately the protection is not sufficient for anyone anymore…the level of violence has become unmanageable,” he said.Speaker Mashhadani has met repeatedly with party leaders, goading them to ensure the attendance of their members.In an interview with Times reporters in his office, Mashhadani acknowledged that more money should be set aside for members’ security, but said this can only be done if members show up to pass a budget.He added that the fines and threat of replacement should help matters.But like everything else in Iraq, there is an ironic catch: for the proposals to be put in place, a majority of Parliament members first have to be present to pass them. And so it goes…
