Sensing a heavy traffic rush due to refugee crowding, Iraqi Parliamentarians slid off early on their month-long vacation. (They might not feel a sense of responsibility for these matters. Perhaps they are the "Republicans of Iraq.")

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s parliament on Monday shrugged off U.S. criticism and adjourned for a month, as key lawmakers declared there was no point waiting any longer for the prime minister to deliver Washington-demanded benchmark legislation for their vote.

A man cursed with a sardonic bent of mind would admire the ability of the legislators to blame it all on Prime Minister Maliki, and would probably think there is a lesson here for the US Democrats in Congress.

Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani closed the final three-hour session without a quorum present and declared lawmakers would not reconvene until Sept. 4. That date is just 11 days before the top U.S. military and political officials in Iraq must report to Congress on American progress in taming violence and organizing conditions for sectarian reconciliation.

Considering that quite a few of the legislators live outside the country, it’s likely that quite a few days are spent without a quorum. It’s probably fortunate there isn’t a lot of call for them to legislate very much.

The recess, coupled with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s failure to get the key draft laws before legislators, may nourish growing opposition to the war among U.S. lawmakers, who could refuse to fund it.

Critics have questioned how Iraqi legislators could take a summer break while U.S. forces are fighting and dying to create conditions under which important laws could be passed in the service of ending sectarian political divisions and bloodshed.

There is only one “key draft law” – the oil law, and I don’t understand why anyone should be surprised the Iraqis are reluctant to conspire in handing off one of their only two forms of wealth to American oil companies. That same sardonic man would expect the Iraqis would be more than happy to offer the oil companies as much of the other form of wealth – sand – as the companies thought they could pound.

It’s unlikely the US Congress will refuse to fund the Iraq Parliament. They’re planning to sky out of Washington for the month, too.

As the MSNBC story notes the Iraqi Parliament is scheduled to reconvene on September 4th (the day after Labor Day) but no business will be done then because of traffic delays caused by large groups of wandering refugees, late flights, and mortar and rocket attacks.

A week and a half later GEN Petraeus is supposed to deliver his honest, clear-eyed report to Congress that things are slowly improving, and the US Army and Marines, aided by the well-paid freedom-loving Sunni insurgents tribesmen of Anbar province have the evil al Qaeda on the run, and by some time in late Summer, 2008, they will undoubtedly be able to reduce the number of troops stationed in Iraq.