Historic Iraq parliament opens amid bombing

Rawya Rageh, Baghdad

US President George W Bush called the session a bright moment for Iraq, but said there was no timetable for withdrawing US troops.

The parliament’s 275 members, elected during January 30 balloting, convened in an auditorium amid tight security in the heavily-guarded Green Zone with US helicopter gunships hovering overhead. “I congratulate the Iraqis for their assembly,” Mr Bush said in Washington.