It seems that all members of the Iraqi Parliament, regardless of political party, are opposed to being blown up. Who knew?

Now, if only we could somehow anthropomorphise the fiscal deficit and have it bomb congress...

Iraqi representatives have long been united in their fear of assassination. They have expressed their unity by failing to make quorum. This "show of unity" is of course they only thing that they could do, although they still din't make quorum. After a week or so they will be even less likely to show up than before.

It would be nice if Iraq had a real government after the American investment of $450 billion (and counting). It would be nice, but it's not true. The official government of Iraq has less real authority than various sectarian militias. Cheering for democracy is a good thing, but only when it is honest. The Iraq version of it does not have even a shred of honesty left.

In other news, the initial reaction here to this latest bombing was the myth of the one-time incident, as if it were like Lincoln's assassination. But Lincoln was assassinated because he had no security at all, while the Green Zone is a security fortress which has already been attacked repeatedly. Besides, Nouri al-Maliki is no Abraham Lincoln. If Lincoln had been a pro-slavery president who fought the Civil War only to wipe out Southern Baptists, then it really would have been a hopeless mess.

"does not have even a shred of honesty left."

Something that you are an expert on.

The nameless horror wrote:

In other news, the initial reaction here to this latest bombing was the myth of the one-time incident, as if it were like Lincoln's assassination. But Lincoln was assassinated because he had no security at all, while the Green Zone is a security fortress which has already been attacked repeatedly.

This would be of interest if the Iraqi Parlaiment building were in the Green Zone, but it's not. It originally was, but it got moved because participants were complaining about all the security procedures.

This would be of interest if the Iraqi Parlaiment building were in the Green Zone, but it's not.

I have checked a dozen different news sources, from the New York Times to Fox News, and they all say that the Iraqi parliament building is indeed inside of the Green Zone. Technically speaking the name of the building is the Baghdad Convention Center. See for example this discussion:

http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=287239

You may have in mind that, even though the parliament meets in the Green Zone, Iraqis took over security of the parliament from Americans. Now, Stratfor makes the good point that Iraqi security doesn't really count as security. But then, that just points back to the fact that the Iraqi government doesn't really count as a government.