Rep. Ellsworth: There are no judges, lawyers and prosecutors in Iraq

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http://www.fwdailynews.com/articles/2007/04/19/features/columnists/brian_howey/doc4627763b5af03893368986.txt

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Then there was that American concept of rule of law. While the U.S. attempts to stand up a police force and Iraqi military, Ellsworth described a “three-legged stool” with two legs missing. There are no judges, lawyers and prosecutors in Iraq. There aren’t any jails.

“We are training the police and recruiting a lot of police,” Ellsworth said. “They were telling us there is not a judge in Iraq that will hear criminal cases. They’ve all either left the country, been killed or gone into hiding and have not re-emerged.”

The former Vanderburgh County sheriff explained, “Once someone is arrested, there are no jails or prisons. I don’t know how you overcome that.“

Then there is endemic corruption. “They (U.S. officials) said we basically have to work around that and work through it,” Ellsworth said.