Posted on 03/16/2005 12:41:21 PM PST by Pendragon_6
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's first freely elected parliament in half a century began its opening session Wednesday after a series of explosions targeted the gathering. President Bush called the session a ``bright moment'' for Iraq, but added there was no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops.
The parliament's 275 members, elected during Jan. 30 balloting, convened in an auditorium amid tight security in the heavily guarded Green Zone with U.S. helicopter gunships hovering overhead.
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Minutes before the assembly convened, at least a half-dozen explosions detonated a few hundred yards away. The U.S. military said two mortar rounds landed inside the zone but caused no injuries.
After Wednesday's session ended, another mortar shell hit an empty building in central Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood, setting the two-story structure on fire, police and witnesses said. There were no reports of injuries.
Continued
What's good for the U.S. and Iraq is bad for the old media.
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