I’m not sure this will mollify anyone and it doesn’t mollify me, but the Iraqi parliament’s August recess is mandated by their Constitution.

Also Saturday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly asked the Iraqi parliament to cancel its August recess or shorten it to two weeks. Legislators are scheduled to consider significant bills in coming days, several of which President Bush has said he hopes will be acted on by Sept. 15, the due date for a key report on the status of the war.

A statement from Maliki’s office said he hoped “parliament would cancel its summer vacation or limit it to a fortnight to help the government solve pending issues.”

Several lawmakers said that they appreciated Maliki’s sentiment but that the August vacation would go on as planned. Last year, lawmakers took a two-month summer break. In June, they agreed to cut this year’s summer break to one month.

“The parliament cannot accept this request because it is unconstitutional,” said Khudair al-Khuzai, minister of education and a member of Maliki’s Dawa party. The Iraqi constitution specifies a two-month recess for lawmakers between each of the year’s two legislative sessions and says the prime minister can choose to extend each session, but for no more than one month.

Saleem Abdullah, a parliament member from the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group, echoed Khuzai’s statement, adding that he interpreted Maliki’s statement as an “informal request” because of the constitutional stipulation.

Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker, said he was upset that Maliki would make such a request.

“It seems that he has no knowledge about the Iraqi constitution,” Othman said. “These 30 days cannot be shortened unless you change the constitution.”

I wonder what their Constitution says about recess appointments.