Oh, there's a SHOCKER!

You could knock me over with a feather...

Blasts Mar First Iraq Assembly Meeting

Iraq's first freely elected parliament in half a century began its opening session Wednesday after a series of explosions targeted the gathering. The opening marked a major milestone on the road to forming a new government in a country still beset by violence.

The parliament's 275 members, elected during Jan. 30 elections, convened in an auditorium amid tight security in the heavily guarded Green Zone with U.S. helicopter gunships hovering overhead.

Minutes before convening, at least a half dozen explosions detonated a few hundred yards away.