Iraqi govt faces collapse over budget row-speaker

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Iraq's government faces collapse unless lingering disputes over this year's budget can be resolved, the parliamentary speaker warned on Monday, after attempts to pass the bill broke down again.

On Sunday, Iraqi lawmakers said they had resolved a row over the budget allocations, particularly for the largely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, the main stumbling block to the $48 billion budget.

Iraqi officials have complained that failure to pass the budget was holding up vital spending at a time when the United States is urging the government to jumpstart the economy to take advantage of falls in violence in recent months.

But the long-running talks failed to reach resolution on Monday, prompting parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani to warn lawmakers that the country faced a political crisis.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11176715.htm

[Barrett808]

1. Grimly amusing to watch the Potemkin government fall apart...

...like everything else Bush has touched.

[Xipe Totec]

2. I'm the Guv'min' dammit!