Miserable Failure.

Iraqi lawmakers have refused to pass the 2008 budget because of rows over funding, including how much money to give the autonomous Kurdistan region, in the latest sign of the country’s deep political divisions.

Officials said on Tuesday that failure to pass the $48 billion budget would hold up vital spending at a time when Washington is urging the government to jumpstart the economy to take advantage of sharp falls in violence.

“All projects at the ministries will be delayed, especially investment projects,” Planning Minister Ali Baban told Reuters.

[snip]

U.S. officials have praised the 2008 budget as well as this month’s passage of a law allowing former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to rejoin the government as evidence Iraq’s divided leaders were starting to make political progress.