Petraeus’ report is on September 15. We got the interim report this week stating that they are only “satisfactorily” on track to meet 8 of 18 benchmarks. Now check out this news:

The White House said Friday that Iraq’s parliament may take the month of August off but downplayed the impact on political reconciliation efforts seen as key to quelling deadly violence.

“My understanding is at this juncture they’re going to take August off, but you know, they may change their minds,” said spokesman Tony Snow, who refused to say whether there had been US efforts to dissuade them.

“You know, it’s 130 degrees (54 Celsius) in Baghdad in August. I’ll pass on your recommendation,” he said when a reporter asked about the impact on an Iraq progress report due by September 15.

So Tony – it is acceptable for them to take off August, and one good reason is that it’s 130 degrees? What about our soldiers?

Here is what should happen. The Democratic leaders of both houses should start serious debate on this issue. They should cancel our August recess and keep Congress in session to work out our problems and bring this war to an end. Oh – but it is only 90 degrees in D.C. during August.