Three months after being elected, Iraq's parliament met on Thursday in Baghdad's 'Green Zone' with a call to the Iraqi public to avoid violence and a possible civil war. The session marked the meeting of the first full-term parliament in Iraq since the U.S. invasion the country in 2003.
The session which lasted just 30 minutes, was considered largely a formality, as talks regarding the formation of the coalition government of the 275-member house are currently deadlocked. Vehicles banned from Baghdad's streets to prevent car bombings as MPs met.
Hajim Al Hassani, the outgoing speaker of the parliament, told members, "The road ahead of us is still long and needs serious work ...the priority is forming a national unity government," according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Adnan Pachachi, the oldest member of the group, opened the session, stressing to Iraqis that a civil war would be a "national disaster."
"The country is going through very difficult times and it faces a big dilemma after the Samarra bombing and the attacks that followed. Sectarian tension has increased and it threatens national disaster," Pachachi added.
More bodies found
Iraqi police discovered 25 bodies discarded in various parts of Baghdad overnight, the Interior Ministry stated Thursday. The victims, all men who had been shot, were found between 7 p.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday in both Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods, said Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi, according to the AP. The men were in civilian clothes and many had their hands bound.
Ongoing sectarian violence throughout the country has taken the lives of countless Iraqi security personnel and civilians since the American invasion, while a steep rise in attacks occurred following the bombing of a holy Shiite mosque in the town of Samarra last month.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
