USD-C hosts Iraqi legal conference

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kimberly Johnson | Maj. Gen. Terry Wolff (right, standing), commanding general of 1st Armored Division,...... read more read more

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kimberly Johnson | Maj. Gen. Terry Wolff (right, standing), commanding general of 1st Armored Division, United States Division – Center, addresses a group of Iraqi Security Forces legal advisers, Oct. 24, during a conference d at Camp Liberty, Iraq.  see less | View Image Page

IRAQ

10.24.2010

Story by Sgt. Kimberly Johnson 

196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

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BAGHDAD – In an effort to strengthen and expand the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces, the 1st Armored Division, United States Division – Center and 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, USD-C hosted a conference, Oct. 24, at Camp Liberty, Iraq, for Iraqi legal advisers within the USD-C area of operations.

The purpose of the conference was to facilitate a dialogue between the legal advisers within the ISF and provide an overview of how U.S. Army legal advisers operate, as an example to teach ISF legal professionals how to build strong bonds with ISF commanders, and serve the Iraqi troops and police officers better.

To begin the conference, Maj. Gen. Terry Wolff, commanding general of 1st Armd. Div., spoke to the attendees about the importance of having a strong, open and honest working relationship between a commander and his legal advisers.

“The most important aspect of the conference was to get (the legal advisers) from the ISF together in the same place,” said Maj. Steven Ranieri, the brigade judge advocate with 1st AAB, 3rd Inf. Div., and a Cleveland native. “Once we got them together, it was important to have them addressed by (Maj.) Gen. Wolff. One of the real key points we have been trying to build this year is the importance of the relationship (between) a commander and (their) legal advisers have.”

Ranieri said in the American system, a commander trusts his or her legal adviser, and the adviser is free to give the commander an honest legal opinion. It is then up to the commander to make the decision, based on that legal advice. There is a strong trusting relationship between the two.

That relationship does not exist in widespread form within the Iraqi organizational structure, Ranieri said.

“What we have seen in our partnering throughout the year was that many of the Iraqi lawyers are on the outside, away from the commander,” Ranieri said. “So having [Maj.] Gen. Wolff there to address all levels of unit organization within the [ISF] gave them all the sense that he values his attorneys and the legal advice we give him.”

After Wolff addressed the group, they broke into discussion groups to review problems the ISF face, and possible solutions to those problems.

“I was very encouraged by how open some of the discussion was,” Ranieri said. “There were junior Iraqi army officers asking questions of their senior leaders, and that shows a willingness to be open and have that relationship we have worked to build between the commanders and their legal advisers.”

There are six main areas of law in which the Judge Advocate General’s corps advises and supports a command—administrative law, international law, claims, contract of fiscal law, legal assistance and Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“The U.S. Army has grown over the years to see the value of legal officers,” Ranieri said. “There was a time the JAG corps was only about [UCMJ]. But it seems like [with] everything we do now, there’s some valued aspect that a legal adviser brings to a commander. It could be operational law, the complexity of international law, the treatment of detainees and so on.”

Primarily, the Iraqi Army legal advisers focus on UCMJ actions, said Lt. Col. Ian Corey, the division staff judge advocate with Company B, Division Special Troops Battalion, 1st Armd Div., and a San Diego native.

“An objective of this conference was to show the Iraqi legal advisers and their commanders that, at one point, [for] the U.S. JAG Corps, we were in the same beginning stages they are in now,” Corey said. “Our JAG system has evolved over time and we [provided], at one time, functions very similar [to what they provide] to their commanders now.”

The first step has been taken to get the ISF legal advisers together, networking with each other and discussing similar issues within their operations, Ranieri said. The next step will involve combined training between the U.S. forces and ISF, and bringing it to parliament so they can make changes to the Iraqi legal system.

“Continued growth will come from the communication, trust and combined efforts where the IA, Iraqi police and the National Police work together and learn to rely on each other,” Ranieri said. “If the U.S. can help facilitate the communication between the ISF, then they can build the trust and the relationships to carry on when the (U.S. forces) are gone.

“There have been Iraqi attorneys in the IA before [Operation Iraqi Freedom],” Ranieri said. “This isn’t a new concept, but the value hasn’t been there. As the Iraqi culture becomes more aware of the importance of the rule of law and the society builds on fundamental principles of laws, then the value of the legal advisers in the ISF will grow.”