July 31, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 15, 1428

BAGHDAD, July 30: Iraq's parliament went into summer recess for a month on Monday after political leaders failed to agree on a series of laws that Washington sees as crucial to stabilising the country.

Lawmakers said the government had yet to present them with any of the laws. The parliament had earlier signalled its intention to go into recess in August after cutting short its summer break that normally starts in July.

“We do not have anything to discuss in the parliament, no laws or constitutional amendments, nothing from the government. Differences between the political factions have delayed the laws,” Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman told Reuters.

The parliament is due to reconvene on Sept 4, just two weeks before the top US general in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and Washington's envoy to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, are due to report to Congress on the success of US President George W. Bush's new Iraq strategy and make recommendations.

The recess leaves Bush with little to show Americans after sending nearly 30,000 more troops to Iraq to give Iraqi leaders breathing space to reach a political accommodation.

“Bush cannot realistically go to Congress and say he has to keep US troops there because the Iraqi government is doing a good job -- because the government is largely absent. It places him in a very difficult predicament,” said Gareth Stansfield, an analyst at leading British think-tank Chatham House.—Reuters