Acrimony dominates Iraqi assembly session; Newly elected lawmakers fail to agree on speaker

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Posted: 1632 GMT (0032 HKT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi National Assembly failed to choose a speaker Tuesday after arguments broke out among lawmakers and reporters were ordered to leave the session.

Assembly members expressed outrage that no agreement had been reached after two sessions.

"The Iraqi people who defied the security threats and voted -- what shall we tell them? What is the reason for this delay?" politician Hussein al-Sadr told Reuters. Al-Sadr is a member of the coalition led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.



It's called "compromise". It means NOT getting all that you want in exchange for getting part of what you want while giving somebody else part of what he wants. It is an alien idea in the Middle East. It will take getting used to.

David F Mayer