Iraq's MPs get slap-happy

Iraq's famously dysfunctional Parliament, still reeling from the building's suicide-bomber cafeteria penetration and now facing the prospect of an abbreviated summer vacation, is having coping problems. The latest indication came when Mahmoud al-Mashadani, the Parliament's Sunni speaker, cracked an inappropriate smile as he listened to Shiite MP Shadha Mousawi chastise the legislature for ignoring Shiites displaced from the Diyala province as a result of the Sunni insurgency. Reports the LA Times:

At one point as Mousawi was speaking, Mashadani smiled.'How can you smile during such a time?' Mousawi said.

Other lawmakers began joining her in calls for action to assist the displaced people, infuriating Mashadani. He declared the meeting adjourned and headed for the door.

[Rival Sunni MP Hussein] Falluji chided him for leaving and for surrounding himself with bodyguards, suggesting Mashadani was not important enough to warrant such security. Mashadani then lunged at Falluji and slapped him.

'Damn you!' Mashadani said before hitting Falluji...

Bodyguards separated the two men."

Clearly, the real reason behind Mashadani's belligerence this week is the threat of a summer stuck in the now-scary Green Zone. Just two days ago he gave the Bush administration a verbal slap for suggesting the Parliament skip its two-month summer vacation. "You had better try and control Nancy Pelosi rather than Mahmoud al-Mashhadani," he announced.