The stunning breach in security at Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone last week killed one Sunni lawmaker and, in the aftermath, revealed an increasingly disoriented and dysfunctional Iraqi government.

Lawmakers met the day after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the cafeteria at the parliament building. Their meeting was intended to be an opportunity for solidarity and an act of defiance in the face of the threat to their institution and their personal safety.

But, rather, Friday's session, and the political finger-pointing over the weekend, painted a picture of disarray.

Many analysts say that Thursday's attack will only serve to further isolate the 275-member parliament from the people who elected it in December 2005. Already, the government is seen by many here to be too mired in sectarian bickering and personal animosities to operate as a functioning government.

"A lot of Iraqis now are biting their fingers in regret because they voted these people in. Most [parliamentarians] have no real base of support and command little respect," says an Iraqi analyst who has been following the workings of parliament since its inception.

He says the institution has rendered itself irrelevant largely due to the "incompetence and inexperience" of its members.

While Iraqis have indeed expressed disappointment with the progress being seen inside government, the lack of significant headway is also frustrating American efforts. The US plan to secure Baghdad, and the success of President Bush's new strategy in Iraq, have been tied to political "benchmarks."

In January, when Mr. Bush announced the new plan in Iraq, he said that the US would hold the government "to the benchmarks that it has announced." Those include: passing legislation to share oil revenues, spending $10 billion on reconstruction, planning for provincial elections, and reforming de-Baathification laws.

The government has made little visible progress on any of those benchmarks.

It did, however, meet earlier this month in a session closed to the media to discuss a bill that would grant the speaker of parliament a salary equivalent to that of Iraq's president. News of such meetings only adds to the common Iraqi sentiment that its parliament is completely disconnected from reality outside the Green Zone.

Already, says the Iraqi analyst, members of parliament (MPs) are paid between $10,000 to $15,000 a month, receive a generous allowance for any trip they make outside Iraq, as well as other perks and benefits such as fuel to operate their generators and an allowance for personal security. He says many of them have amassed personal fortunes and have bought homes and started businesses in Arab and European capitals.

In comparison, an average Iraqi who may have served the state for 30 years struggles to make ends meet on a pension of $100 to $200 a month, he says.

The analyst says the problems of the Iraqi parliament can be traced to the fact that the dominant blocs were only able to win by appealing to voters' sectarian and ethnic affiliations.

The heated exchanges at the meeting Friday illustrated the sectarian divide in parliament.

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