I just clicked on the New York Times and found this excellent and very lengthly article titled Legal System in Iraq Staggers Beneath the Weight of War.
There is not much to for me to add, except my feeling of disgust that here is one more example of what we have wrought. Just today we were talking on Super’s diary about prison/legal system here in the US, well evidentally we can make even that a worse mess in Iraq.
Legal System in Iraq Staggers Beneath the Weight of War
By MICHAEL MOSS
BAGHDAD — In a cavernous room that once displayed gifts given to Saddam Hussein, eight men in yellow prison garb sat on the floor facing the wall, guarded by two American soldiers.
Among them was Abdulla Sultan Khalaf, a Ministry of Industry employee seized by American troops who said they found 10 blasting caps and 100 sticks of TNT. When his name was called, he stood, walked into a cagelike defendant’s box and peered over the wooden slats at a panel of three Iraqi judges of the central court.
In 2004, American troops detained Laith al-Ani, shown in a family photo. He sent his family a letter, above, from his detention camp, but they say they do not know why he is still heldThe judges reviewed evidence prepared by an American military lawyer — testimony from two soldiers, photographs and a sketch of the scene.
The evidence went largely unchallenged, because Mr. Khalaf had no lawyer. The judges appointed one, but Mr. Khalaf had no chance to speak with him. Mr. Khalaf told the judges that the soldiers were probably chasing a rogue nephew and denied that the explosives were his or ever in his house. “Let me examine the pictures,” he insisted. The judges ignored him. His lawyer said nothing, beyond declaring Mr. Khalaf’s innocence. The trial lasted 15 minutes.
The judges conducted six trials of similar length and depth before lunch, then deliberated for four minutes. Five defendants were found guilty; one was acquitted. “The evidence is enough,” Judge Saeb Khorsheed Ahmed said in convicting Mr. Khalaf. “Thirty years.”
The United States established the Central Criminal Court of Iraq three years ago, envisioning it as a pillar of a new democracy. But like the faltering effort to create effective Iraqi security forces, the system for detaining, charging and trying suspects has instead become another weak link in the rule of law in Iraq, according to an examination of the justice system by The New York Times.
The stakes are rising. The court has begun sentencing American-held detainees to death by hanging, 14 this year.
Almost every aspect of the judicial system is lacking, poorly serving not just detainees but also Iraqi citizens and troops trying to maintain order.
Soldiers who have little if any training in gathering evidence or sorting the guilty from the innocent are left to decide whom to detain. The military conducts reviews to decide whom to release, yet neither Iraqi detainees nor defense lawyers are allowed to attend, according to military documents and interviews.
Tens of thousands of detainees have been released by the Americans, often under political pressure from the Iraqis, but American soldiers complain they are apprehending many dangerous insurgents again and again. At the same time, detainees are held for long periods by the Americans without being charged, in some instances for as long as two years.
Even detainees who are formally charged and brought to the Iraqi court have little ability to develop a defense against evidence collected by American lawyers and soldiers. Most defense lawyers are appointed by the court and paid $15 per case. Even if they are so inclined, they are largely unable to gather evidence because of the threat of violence. One American lawyer said that in 100 cases he handled, not one defense lawyer had introduced evidence or witnesses.
As an aside to this I was watching a show on cable last week, called “Off to War”, I believe and it was about a young soldier who was home on leave and sitting with his buddies having a beer and talking about Iraq. What’s it like there, did you kill any Iraqi’s and so on and eventually the soldier said you know I think the only answer is to kill all the Iraqi’s. “All of them his friend replied, how do you know who’s guilty of anything”. “We don’t”, came the soldier’s reply, “that’s why I say we should just kill them all.” To their credit a couple of his friends said that was nuts and the war was a big mistake and so on, but just think how many others might just feel that way.
