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Iraqi Legislature Taking Most Of December Off

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By KIM GAMEL, The Associated Press

Published: December 7, 2007

BAGHDAD - Iraqi legislators suspended parliamentary sessions Thursday until the end of the month because of the Muslim religious season - the end of much-delayed efforts to pass U.S.-backed legislation aimed at achieving national reconciliation this year.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, meanwhile, welcomed a report from his top commander in Iraq that violence has declined 60 percent in the past six months. He warned, however, that "people are getting impatient" for the Iraqi government to take advantage of improved security and move toward needed political reforms.

The Sunni speaker of parliament announced the decision to suspend sessions after days of debate over a draft bill that would allow thousands of former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to return to their government jobs. The measure is among the 18 benchmarks set by the United States to encourage reconciliation.

Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said the legislative body would not hold another session until the end of December because many lawmakers would be traveling to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for the annual Islamic pilgrimage.

Others were expected to leave the capital to spend Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice, with their families elsewhere in Iraq or abroad. The holiday begins around Dec. 20.

Al-Mashhadani said parliament would reconvene Dec. 30, a day before the end of the current term for the legislative body.

The 275-member parliament came under criticism over the summer for taking off the month of August.

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