No oil law as Iraqi Parliament breaks

BAGHDAD, July 31 (UPI) -- Iraq's Parliament enters its August recess without approving President Bush-backed laws governing oil, among others, though there was action on the last day.

The Parliament approved a ban on chemical weapons and parts of the World Health Organization constitution before leaving for a recess that was cut from two months to just August.

The Voices of Iraq news agency reports the Parliament also approved a bill celebrating Iraq's national soccer team for its Asia Cup championship. Iraqi citizens poured into the streets Sunday after the win, celebrating the work of a mix of Shiite and Sunni Arabs and Kurds together on a soccer field.

This is in stark contrast to the Iraqi government, torn by factions drawn on ethnic and religious lines. A key lightning rod is the oil law, which would govern exploration, development and production of the third-largest oil reserves in the world.

President Bush and the U.S. Congress have urged Iraq to approve the law, one of many they say will lead to reconciliation between fighting factions. (Both regular refer to it as a law that will split the vast oil proceeds around the country -- the reconciliation road -- although the oil law does no such thing. A separate revenue-sharing law, also stuck in political squabbling, would govern how the revenue is shared.)

Parliamentary committees will still meet during the break, as a way to continue negotiations between political parties on this and other issues.

"All the work on the laws is up to the political blocs, and that means all the negotiations and debates take place in closed rooms, not in the Parliament," Shatha al-Mussawi, a parliamentarian from the ruling Shiite-led coalition, told the New York Times.