Great! Why don’t the Iraqi parliament take another month off then!

Iraqi legislators suspended parliamentary sessions Thursday until the end of the month because of the Muslim religious season _ the end of much-delayed efforts to pass U.S.-backed legislation aimed at achieving national reconciliation this year.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, meanwhile, welcomed a report from his top commander in Iraq that violence has declined 60 percent in the last six months. But Gates warned that “people are getting impatient” for the Iraqi government to take advantage of improved security and move toward needed political reforms.

The Sunni speaker of parliament announced the decision to suspend sessions after days of debate over a draft bill that would allow thousands of former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to return to their government jobs. The measure is among the 18 benchmarks set by the United States to encourage reconciliation.

At this rate the polar ice caps will melt before Iraq gets their shit together.