MS. PERINO: Well, they've passed a lot more laws than this Congress has this year, and they've worked very hard. I mean, they're going from a complete dictatorship where they have no trust of one another -- they've never had democracy, and just in January, late January, they finished passing four -- three or four pieces of -- major pieces of legislation. And they're continuing to work on more.

Politics is alive and well in Iraq. And just today we hear reports that it's possible that the constitutional process that was working its way through, where Vice President Mahdi had suggested a veto against a provincial powers law that -- it looks like that will be withdrawn, which would be a good step. And then you have -- what you have is Iraq actually trying to function as a democracy.

And I think some people who are throwing stones ought to look at the primary system in our own country, especially on the Democratic side, where you have two states where -- Florida and Michigan, where they're figuring out whether or not to seat those delegates. Politics happens. And that's what -- it happens in the United States and it's certainly happening in Iraq. It's not a bad thing that they're having debates about their constitution.

seen at 14:09, 19 March in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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