Iraqi Parliament Members Gone Wild!

Ran across this on Al-Sharqiya today, the Dubai-based satellite station that has a slight tendency to cover violence and the shortcomings of Iraq's government.

"Local news agencies tonight cited members of the Council of Representatives as saying that US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker paid a surprise visit to the COR to not only talk to Al-Mashhadani but also to make peace between Al-Mashhadani and First Deputy Speaker Khalid al-Atiyah, who got into a brawl on Wednesday during which they exchanged inappropriate words. The same sources said that the brawl was caused by Al-Mashhadani's remarks against the way Al-Atiyah ran the Council of Representatives' sessions during his absence, something that made Al-Atiyah lose his temper."

So not only does the Ambassador have arguably the hardest job in the world, he's got to break up fights like a bouncer at a frat party. Well, I gotta give some credit to the Iraqi government. I mean I understand that they are a new entity, and there is also talk in the Iraqi media that the De-Baathification reform law might get passed soon, one of those benchmarks (I think). Most importantly, at least these guys just slug it out, while back in America there would be committees formed and witnesses called in and 3 hours of sleep-inducing coverage on CSPAN.