Today I donned my full "battle rattle" (body armor, helmet, ballistic sunglasses, earplugs, etc.) and boarded a Blackhawk helicopter to make the short journey across the Tigris River to the central Baghdad district (neighborhood) of Rusafa. Rusafa was always the traditional home of the police, and it is the site of MNFI's most ambitious and concrete rule of law project to date: A complex combining the three legs of the rule of law stool -- the Baghdad Police Academy, a large prison (mostly for detainees awaiting arraignment and trial) that meets international correctional standards, and a temporary court (awaiting completion/renovation of a new judicial center).
I didn't have my camera with me -- a British legal advisor promised to send me pics -- but take my word that the compound is impressive. Secured by an independent contractor hired by the Iraqi government and advised by the Law & Order Task Force of which I'm now a part, the police-corrections-courts center is already becoming a model for the Iraqi criminal justice system.
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