Legislators fail to act on reconciliation bill

Many lawmakers will be making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — 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 last six months. But Gates warned 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. It normally would recess for two months at that time, but legislators were expected to extend the term by a month so they could meet in January to pass a budget and other important measures, a senior U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Nevertheless, the suspension was the latest setback to efforts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-dominated government to bring minority Sunnis into the political process.

The 275-member parliament came under criticism over the summer for taking the month of August off despite the lack of progress on passing the legislation, including a law to ensure the equitable distribution of Iraq’s oil riches.

Many lawmakers have residences in neighboring Jordan, and the chamber rarely holds a full house.

Before the legislature adjourned, a shouting match erupted when a Shiite lawmaker accused a powerful Sunni Arab politician of harboring sectarian sentiments against Iraq’s Shiite majority.

The public outburst could renew calls by Shiite politicians that Adnan al-Dulaimi, the Sunni politician, be stripped of his parliamentary immunity to stand trial for inciting sectarian strife.