Iraq's parliament adjourns until September

BAGHDAD, July 30 (Reuters) Iraq's parliament closed for its summer recess today, lawmakers said, deciding to take a break until early September despite having failed to enact a series of laws demanded by Washington.

''Parliament has decided to break until early September,'' Hussein Falluji of the mainly Sunni Accordance Front bloc in parliament told Reuters.

''We have already cut the holiday by one month. It is our constitutional right to take it,'' he added.

The recess means parliament will resume just before U S military commander General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are due to report back to Congress on the success of this year's surge in U S troops to Iraq.

A preliminary White House assessment earlier this month faulted Iraqi leaders for failing to enact laws aimed at curbing violence, including measures to distribute oil revenue, hold provincial elections and loosen restrictions on members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party returning to public life.

REUTERS PD HT1955