Squabbles, stalemate hold up Iraq Parliament

Iraq’s Parliament erupted in acrimony at only its second sitting on Tuesday and journalists were thrown out after lawmakers berated lea...

Iraq’s Parliament erupted in acrimony at only its second sitting on Tuesday and journalists were thrown out after lawmakers berated leaders for failing to agree on a new government, two months after historic elections.

When parliamentarians were told that despite last-minute talks that delayed the session no agreement had been reached, even on the post of parliamentary speaker, several stood up to say leading politicians were letting down the Iraqi people.

‘‘The Iraqi people who defied the security threats and voted —— what shall we tell them? What is the reason for this delay?’’ Hussein al-Sadr, a politician in the bloc led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, asked the Assembly before the news blackout.

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As the meeting grew heated, the interim speaker ordered journalists to leave and Iraqi television abruptly switched to Arab music. Allawi walked out of the session shortly afterwards.

‘‘You can say we are in a crisis,’’ Barham Salih, a leading Kurdish politician, told reporters.MPs said they would meet again on Sunday to try to agree aspeaker. The Shia alliance and the Kurdish coalition have agreed that the speaker should be a Sunni Arab, to give the Sunni minority more involvement in politics.

As politicians wrangled, insurgents pressed on with their campaign of violence.

Three Romanian journalists —— Marie Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci of Prima TV and Ovidiu Ohanesian of Romania Libera newspaper —— were kidnapped in Iraq on Monday, officials said. —Reuters

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the designation gives law enforcement “enhanced powers to combat a group that has instilled fear through violence and intimidation”.

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