It was easy to overlook if you were thinking about baseball and mortgages and FISA yesterday, but Iraqi Parliament actually managed to get some good things done. They passed a budget, for one thing. They also defined the powers of the various states — making Iraq a “federal” government. They gave amnesty to thousands of prisoners. They declared that an upcoming election would be scheduled for October 1 (oh, if only the American election cycle were so short). Best of all, these bills were passed unanimously despite the fact that they are “divisive“. Taken together, the new legislation should help even out the political power of the major ethnic, political, and religious groups in Iraq.
And then the Parliament declared a 5 week holiday for themselves, insuring that no “oil bill” would be passed anytime soon.
Perhaps the best news of all is that “representatives from Iraq’s three main ethnic groups — Shiite, Sunni and Kurd — finally saw some benefit in compromise.”