After Saddam’s regime fell, the Coalition reviewed the performance of 869 seated Iraqi judges. One-hundred-and-thirty-five of these were removed due to Ba’ath Party affiliations or substantial evidence of corruption.  Between May 2003 – the end of major combat – and June 2004, an additional 175 justices were trained.  By May of 2005, that number had swelled to 351.  As a result, there has been a steady increase in the felony cases resolved by Iraqi courts – from roughly 4,000 in 2003, to 8,000 in 2004, to 10,000 in 2005.

The chief bottleneck in some of the provincial courts was (and is) the lack of prosecutorial personnel to gather evidence.  The coalition has trained 99 judicial investigators to help these courts.

Meanwhile, the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, charged with combating acts of terrorism, has stepped up the prosecution of kidnappers, bombers, snipers, assassins, and their accomplices.  To date, the CCCI has held 995 trials, and convicted 908 individuals of crimes against the Coalition and the Iraqi government.

Last week, the CCCI convicted 22 security detainees for crimes ranging from illegal border crossings to mass bombings. To give some idea of the scope of the court’s rulings:

• Mohammed Khalaf Shakara was convicted of deadly attacks and kidnappings for hire, and was sentenced to death.
• Khalid Ibrahim Sulaiman was found guilty of detonating a vehicle-borne IED, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Zaher Fayez Mohammed, Adel Salem Mohammed, and Saleh Al-Shafle Saleh were convicted of entering Iraq illegally to join an armed group – the terror cell of Mohammed Shakara – and sentenced to life in prison.
• A’mer Mohammed Jasim, sentenced to 10 years, was found guilty of handling  provisions and finance for terror cells.
• Majid Abdullah Su’od, a terror recruiter, will be imprisoned for life.

On the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Saddam emptied his jails. The 150,000 criminals he released now prey on the population.  Career thugs have become the “specialists” whom terrorists hire for arms smuggling, kidnappings, and assassinations. 
But case by case, justice is reasserted. In Iraq, the campaign for democracy is being won as much in courts as on battlefields.

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