BAGHDAD - Iraq's MPs are having to swiftly learn their new trade after decades living under totalitarian rule, as the clock counts down towards drafting a permanent constitution amid intense pressure at home and abroad.
With a government still not in place after the inauguration of parliament on March 16, the body is currently spending half its time discussing a internal bill on internal procedures.
The rest is spent talking about other issues ranging from the quality of flour on the market, their housing arrangements in the capital to the mistreatment and insults they have to endure from US and Iraqi soldiers guarding the Green Zone.
But soon the real business must begin as the freshly-minted deputies face the momentous task of negotiating and drafting a constitution that would be put to a national referendum in October.
They must tackle explosive issues like the relationship between Islam and state, the fate of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and of US and foreign troops based on Iraqi soil against a backdrop of ongoing violence.
Add to this the challenge of learning to speak and act like legislators.
With the exception of two octogenarian MPs, who were in parliament during the reign of the ousted monarchy last century, all others have no legislative experience and only a few held posts in the previous interim government.
Tuesday -- another session, another day in the life of Iraq's experiment with democracy. MPs file into the auditorium handing over strips of paper to speaker Hajem al-Hassani with their names and the topics they want to bring up.
Once seated, a veiled woman makes out the letter T with her hands.
"Point of order," says the stern-looking Hassani.
A man with a microphone rushes over to the female deputy.
"The human rights violations in prisons can't be ignored," she says before being abruptly interrupted by Hassani.
"This is not a point of order, please stop," he tells her as she continues to plead with him to be heard. "If you want to speak about this, you need to reserve your slot."
Some deputies then demand that the session be adjourned in protest against the manhandling of MP Fatah al-Sheikh by a US soldier.
"We can't do that, we are late as it is. We can't waste our time or that of the Iraqi people with side issues. The main task that we must accomplish is write a permanent constitution," says Hussein al-Sadr, a black-turbaned MP from outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi's list.
The Iraqi MPs now attend US-funded workshops in Baghdad on how to be good legislators and may soon go in batches to Washington to train in Congress on drafting and debating the constitution, according to Omar Khaizaran, head of public relations at parliament.
But not everyone feels the training is needed.
"We do not need it, many people here struggled and fought the regime for 30 years," says Hadi al-Amri, MP from the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance bloc and head of the Badr Organisation, a militia movement.
Fuad Ajami, a professor of political science at John Hopkins University, beams when he talks about US President George W. Bush's plan to reshape the Middle East by introducing western-style democracy.
He likens Bush's quest to that of Christopher Columbus, who discovered the new world by accident while looking for India.
"Bush was looking for weapons of mass destruction and found Arab democracy. That's good," he says referring to Saddam's alleged banned weapons arsenal, which was the main rationale for the war in 2003, but was never found.
"And Iraq is the lynch pin. Bush's diplomacy of freedom begins in Iraq and without success in Iraq, it will all collapse."

04/22/2005 12:08 GMT