Photo By Sgt. Emily Knitter | Maj. Steve Ranieri, brigade judge advocate for 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd...... read more read more
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BAGHDAD – Two dozen years of brutal dictatorship and nine years of U.S.-Iraqi conflict have taken a toll on the legal foundations of Iraq.
But the nation has grown much safer and more secure in the last year.
“The past regime created a lot of corrupt people. Now, things are getting better,” said Col. Ali Hadi, deputy legal officer of Iraqi Ground Forces Command.
Capitalizing on this growth, Iraqi army legal officers have begun looking at establishing a legal system capable of fairly and equitably handling military cases and crimes brought before them.
United States Division – Center Soldiers met with Iraqi Army legal officers to show how U.S. military law uses forensic evidence to solve cases, and begin a dialogue aimed at helping the IA improve their legal proceedings by improving training for their legal soldiers on Camp Liberty, June 5.
Shortly after meeting, U.S. Soldiers took the IA legal officers on a tour through Joint Expeditionary Forensic Facility 3. The IA currently does not use much forensic equipment during investigations, so the tour highlighted the many advantages and opportunities available using the technology. The forensics laboratory is one three such facilities operating across Iraq, and through the Security Agreement, is available for use by all Iraqi security forces wanting to submit evidence for examination.
Hadi said that DNA evidence is rarely used in court cases, and he was not aware these facilities were available for the Army.
He expressed concern over his soldiers’ inexperience in handling evidence.
Explaining the soldiers are not currently trained how to collect and preserve evidence for court hearings because they have never had the technology to use it, Hadi said he hopes that with American support, they can be trained to handle the evidence.
Hadi’s reaction pleased Maj. Steve Ranieri, the 1st Bde. judge advocate.
“It is my hope that by showing these opportunities and procedures to the Iraqi officers here today, we can start a dialogue with them to improve their own operations where they will go back to their units and use what they learned to change procedures,” he said.
Following the tour, the group sat in on simultaneous training being conducted for all U.S. Army and Air Force prosecutors in Iraq.
Both Capt. Kevin Ley, an operational law attorney for USD-C, and Ranieri said watching the training was more about the procedure than the actual content.
Ley said the goal was to show the Iraqi legal officers how the U.S. Army runs their training. Although the actual topic of the training doesn’t cross over well because of the different laws and regulations, Ley hopes the IA legal officers see how the training went and use it to improve their own training.
The goal for the U.S. military legal community, though, is not to force the Iraqis to duplicate the American system of laws.
“We don’t want to show the Iraqis what we are doing and say, ‘Ok, now go do it exactly like we are,’” said Ranieri. “Our goal is to show them how we operate so that they can then take what parts work best and apply it to create a legal system that works for them.”
Over the next few weeks and months, Ranieri said they hope to continue building on this new partnership.
“Soon, we would like to get together with [our Iraqi counterparts] and do actual organized training over topics that are applicable to their judicial system … so that they receive real, substantial benefits they can use in the future,” said Ranieri.
When the Iraqi officers departed after exchanging the customary gestures of respect within their cultures, both sides expressed pleasure with the outcome and excitement about the opportunity for future partnership engagements.
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 06.15.2010 03:43 |
| Story ID: | 51392 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 173 |
| Downloads: | 135 |
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