Which is More Chaotic - the Iraqi Parliment or the American Congress?

The Iraqi Parliment has come under tremendous fire from the American left because of its difficulty in reaching agreements on key issues, and it's desire to take a vacation during the hottest month of the year. However, if you were to compare a typical meeting of the Iraqis to what went on in today's congressional hearing, you'd wonder which country had the most disorganized democracy. Here are some excerpts from the AP report:

WASHINGTON (AP) - A congressional hearing that lawmakers called the most important of the year opened like a rock concert Monday, with crackling anticipation and screeching feedback from the acoustic speakers. Yet this show turned out to be David Petraeus, unplugged. ...

At the moment of highest anticipation—when Petraeus was finally asked to speak, after lengthy opening statements from lawmakers—his microphone failed. In the awkward minutes that followed, two more protesters made a commotion and were removed from the room.

The hearing had to recess because of the technical glitch. "Test, test," someone said through the mike. The acoustic speakers cried foul. After 10 minutes, all was fixed and the show went on.

A protester who called Iraqis "beautiful people" and accused Petraeus of lying was quickly removed during his remarks. Other discordant voices were similarly silenced before he began. Before the general spoke, the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was among those arrested for shouting in the room. ...

As soon as Petraeus finished his prepared remarks earlier, three more protesters shouted from the back and were ejected. One of them, a woman wearing a cardboard crown saying "Pull Out," screamed "No, no, no!" as security guards took her arms and tugged her out of the room. Yet another followed as Crocker began his remarks.

An exasperated Skelton said protesters who disrupted proceedings would be prosecuted.

"There will be no disturbances," he vowed, after half a dozen had already taken place.

Perhaps we should send the UN or Jimmuh Carter into the House of Representatives to help them work out the problems in their untidy democracy.