AND....YOU THOUGHT OUR MPs WERE THIEVING BASTARDS!

Politicians in Iraq have raked in more than $1,000 a minute for working just TWENTY minutes this year.

They picked up a fee of $90,000 and a monthly salary of  $22,500 a month for doing next to nothing and staying free in Baghdad's finest hotel.

Their lavish perks and salaries emerged as the 325 lawmakers prepared to hold second parliamentary session since the election last March.

But there is growing resentment among  ordinary Iraqis struggling to make ends meet  that politicians are living the high life.  A mid-level government employee makes around $600 a month and ordinary people lack basic services like water and electricity.

A politician's basic monthly salary is $10,000 - just $4,500 short of that of rank-and-file members of the U.S. Congress.  In addition, an MP gets a $12,500 monthly allowance for housing and security arrangements, for a combined total of $22,500. 

They also get to spend nights free at Baghdad's Rasheed Hotel in the relatively safe environment of the Green Zone, regardless of whether parliament is in session. And they collect a $600 per day when traveling inside or out of Iraq.  Once out of office, they get 80 percent of their salary monthly for life, and for eight years they can keep the diplomatic passports that they - and often their families - are issued, for all time.

The Yanks wonder where their tax dollars go.  These bastards are paid more than ours.  But to be fair, there is a fair chance of some of them ending up dead, which isn't likely to happen to ours, unless your name is Stephen Timms!  I wonder if they flip their second homes and have duck ponds?