'This shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken'
By Steve Benen Tuesday Mar 04, 2008 4:02pm
With all the attention on the primary races, it’s easy to overlook the fact that the Maliki government in Iraq won’t even pretend to take the rule of law seriously.
Two former high-ranking Shiite government officials charged with kidnapping and killing scores of Sunnis were ordered released Monday after prosecutors dropped the case. The abrupt move renewed concerns about the willingness of Iraq’s leaders to act against sectarianism and cast doubts on U.S. efforts to build an independent judiciary.
The collapse of the trial stunned American and Iraqi officials who had spent more than a year assembling the case, which they said included a wide array of evidence.
“This shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken,” said a U.S. legal adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. “And it sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you.”
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to allow the case to proceed to trial was considered a significant step toward proving his Shiite-led government could hold Shiite officials accountable for sectarian crimes.
Maybe John McCain could tell us again about how confident we should all feel about progress in Iraq.
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Iraq for Iraqis. Get the occupiers and their puupets out.
Perhaps they patterened their judiciary after the US Supreme Court?
we have guantanamo and we criticize another country?
Puhleeze! Give me a fucking break!
looks like Ahmedinjhad's visit was worth it for some.
Wait! Didn't we set this up? It seems to work a lot like Alabama.
This disregard of the rule of law would have made the GOP proud.
Don't worry - give it six more months and everything will be fine.
“This shows that the judicial system in the United States is horribly broken,” said a U.S. legal adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. “And it sends a terrible signal: If you are Republican, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you.”
Fixed your typo.
Maybe John McCain could tell us again about how confident we should all feel about progress in Iraq.
Maybe President Obama or President Clinton should appoint uncle grumpy mccain as ambassador to Iraq and make him live there until he either fixes the repig mess or dies trying. He can have lieberman as his cabana boy too.
REGIME CHANGE 2.01
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
Bush-hopper has taught them well.
This is entirely un-American. Only the President should summarily dismiss cases against criminal allies.
Maybe John McCain could tell us again about how confident we should all feel about progress in Iraq.
He is more likely to take them as his model as to how to deal with political opposition.
Nevertheless, the surge is working wonderfully.
The thugs can fix the Iraq judiciary by throwing more money at it. Then they'll have the US model: the best money can buy.
SHOCKING!!!
The Bush Administration undermines the independent judiciary in our own country, why the hell would they care about it in Iraq?
Jesus F*cking Christ...
As if we have room to talk, with our Extreme Court that is so corrupt, morally bereft and ideologically enslaved that it is near -indistinguishable from Hitler's People's Courts. Or a DoJ that is the shame of the world.
Iraqi cabinet gives green light to oil ministry to sign oil deals
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/05/africa/ME-FIN-Iraq-Oil-Deals.php
This is the pay-off to Sadr for continuing his "ceasefire." Which is weird, because I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists. /snark
baylaw73 @ 1:
Tell me what happens once we withdraw from our mess? I'll tell you, Civil War and a fractured Middle East divided even more blatantly between Iran and Israel. Removing Saddam was an unforgivable mistake, which we had no right to do to begin with. In removing Saddam we removed the main force that kept the Persians from interfering in the Middle East, and the main counterbalance between jumpy, paranoid, nuclear-armed Israel, and jumpy, paranoid, sh*tload-of-missles-armed Iran. Saddam Hussein's regime would still have fallen once he died, but to remove him was, first of all, completely arrogant and immoral, and second, the destruction of the balance of power in the Middle East.
Thanks a lot, Georgie Porgie! >.<
Gee, sounds like we have successfully put into place a carbon copy of our judicial system in Iraq. Fuck the innocent and let the real scum go scot free.
What #17 said. Just look at whom Maliki's mentor is. Wonder if Bush has instructed him yet on the utility of "signing statements." Maybe that's in the advanced course.
Brokeback White House @ 10:
WTF?
You mean "military men" like Truman? JFK? LBJ? Carter? or these guys?
...Or just those you don't agree with?
Geez, what country does that sound like?
Same with Republicans.
If you are Republicans, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you.
PLEASE don't "UNITE" my good party with these High-brow Lie-War-Endorsing bushies.
[Deleted. We're tired of your off topic postings. You are done here and I am deleting your previous posts-Sitemonitor]
Not to worry: with all the weapons we've been giving the Sunnis they'll be able to even the score pretty quickly. Too bad it's usually the wrong people usually to get killed when the zealots start fighting.
You know, this really doesn't sound much different than the way things were under Saddam, only now its the Shia government oppressing the Sunnis rather than vice versa. Democracy at the point of a gun, indeed.
We broke the entire country. Why should the government we installed be any different.
You can either believe "this is a horrible setback" or you can grasp that Bushco has undermined any possibility of reconciliation in Iraq.
Genocide for Airbases & Caspian Sea Oil knows no justice.
#31 "You can either believe “this is a horrible setback” or you can grasp that Bushco has undermined any possibility of reconciliation in Iraq. Genocide for Airbases & Caspian Sea Oil knows no justice."
Remember that several months ago Bush was asked what his plans are when he leaves office, and his reply was something like "we need to replenish the coffers." I think what you're seeing now in Iraq is just getting everything in place to help fill the coffers.
you can substitute gop for the shia in this article with the same intent.
you can substitute ag for the iraqi judicial with the same objections.
bush is so fucking criminal and delusion he chooses to acknowledge
the mirror function that his party and administration are to iraq now
as he has caused. bush is fucking up the entire world.
IMPEACH AND SENTENCE SEVERELY
And it's broken here...
As usual the Democratic Party will blow it. Hillary would be beat badly by McCain, and Obama would lose because of the MSM doesn't want him, too many dumb voters don't realize their country is in a pile of shit which no Republican can get us out of, and there are unfortunately too many whites and Hispanics out there who would never vote for a black.
Let McCain handle the Iraq powder keg for the next four years.
“And it sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you.”
It IS becoming just like the US. If you are a republican, no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you.
To Quote Charles Emerson Winchester III... "It was built broken!"
We have spent over a trillion dollars and countless lives for..This?
its all bullshit nothings going to change this countrys fucked!!!!!!!!!!
Iraq's judicial system sounds like Americas
LIKE THE OJ TRIAL ON STEROIDS...
A PEOPLE HAS RISEN TO SAY.......... f2$* #&$#
AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON......
------ it was wrong BUT you have to give them credit--- they know the message the are sending
Al @ 36:
Gore WAS elected in 2000. Kerry WAS elected in 2004. By 2006 we had undone enough of the vote-fraud, and put Howard Dean in as party chairman, that we won by landslide (many votes were still stolen).
2008 will be a larger landslide still.
Obama/Clinton will knock McCain't's socks off, handily. We will pick up 40 seats in the House, five Senate seats, and a handful of new Dem governors.
Sorry if that makes you sad with your eternal failure myth.
General_Rennenkampf @ 23:
I agree. So, we stay there until...when exactly? There already is a Civil War, but is it possible we're making it worse? And what right do we have to occupy a foreign nation?
From the story:
"'The fact that the trial panel would find what we did insufficient was a great disappointment,' Michael F. Walther, a Justice Department official who advised the Iraqi legal system, said in December. 'I do think that they may have applied a different standard of proof than they would have for an ordinary criminal.'"
A great disappointment?
Call it a Richard Milhous Cheney Wet Dream.
Somewhere David Addington just soiled his entire wardrobe of pants with tyrannical glee.
Who could have ever foreseen this happening?
Disclaimer: Please note that the thickness of the bubble is relative to the number of people remaining inside said bubble. The thicker the bubble, the harder it is to see through. A Catch 22 if you will.
USA took 8 years to establish our government so I think they are doing well for 25 million people. All people can learn to live together and eventually they will achieve Liberty and finally Peace.
Fighting democracy over there so we don't have to fight it over here. We just fight democracy over here cause it's fun.
--Bush
Yikes. I wonder how this is going to affect the Sunnis we're paying-off.
.
Like Maliki, like Bush...
We taught 'em, we keep showin' 'em.
.
baylaw73 @ 44:
I have no idea. >.> We are, quite literally, damned if we do and damned if we don't. Thanks to the instability, we, the U.S. have just pushed everything over an edge. My solution to these problems would be to increase the power of the Sheiks, avoid partition (it didn't work that well in Lebanon, frex), and try to counterbalance the Sunni and Shia militias. Basically, create a stronger set of powers for the Sheiks who would take care of the Maliki government's messes.
As for something else, I might just let Iran move in a little and help stabilize Maliki's government, as an anarchic Iraq is bad for the entire region.
Well this is what our brave young men and women have died for, and this is what we have spent billion of dollars for, well thank you Mr. McCain and Mrs. Clinton, and thank you people of Ohio, and by the way OHIO have lost more troops than most.
The Bush Administration was never in the business of promoting an "independent judiciary," at home or abroad. Fascists don't do independence.
Let's not pretend surprise at the same stench arising from Iraq.
It took America about eight years before the constitution was signed and George Washington became our first president. They are not doing that bad, considering they had not had their freedom for decades. These are tribal people, it takes time to evolve, Think back on the achievements of the USA.
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