Law and order Airmen see justice served in Iraq

Published April 18, 2011
By Senior Master Sgt. Larry A. Schneck
9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq Public Affairs

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- verse in the Quran goes "call to witness, from among your men, two witnesses. And, if two men be not found, then a man and two women."

Airmen assigned to the U.S. Forces-Iraq Law and Order Task Force support a justice system operating differently from U.S. courts.

For paralegal Airmen who learned the practice of law within codified regulations, statutes and legal precedence, it is truly unique to start working in a legal system influenced by the Muslim culture.

"There's no training for this job," remarked Tech. Sgt. Diana Wilkins, LAOTF paralegal, deployed from Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. "It's all on-the-job training."

The story is the same for the other U.S. Air Force paralegal deployed to Joint Security Station Shield, Baghdad, Iraq, from Grand Forks AFB, N.D.

"I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do," reflected Tech. Sgt. Aaron Holmes, LAOTF paralegal, whose hometown is Cabot, Ark., and religiously follows Arkansas Razorback sports. "All I knew before I arrived was I would assist the Iraqis in establishing the rule of law."

A typical case involves a detainee picked up by Iraqi security forces or U.S. forces if detained prior to Dec. 31, 2008, when United Nations Security Council Resolution 1790 expired. UNSCR gave the U.S. the legal authority to intern enemy combatants. Since that date, detainees in U.S. custody dropped from more than 20,000 people to around 200.

Sergeant Wilkins spends her days reviewing stacks of paperwork and electronic data files. She pieces together case files on detainees who are suspected of committing acts of terrorism.

"It's fulfilling to know we're putting away the bad guys," she said. "The oldest case we have is from 2004. I review the cases to see which ones might involve U.S. servicemembers wounded or killed."

The cases then are transported to the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, the equivalent of a U.S. Federal court.

"We have to fight Baghdad city traffic to hand carry files to the Iraqi court," sighed Sergeant Wilkins. "We turn over the complete case file to help prepare the detainee for trial in front of an Iraqi judge. Our focus is to facilitate the prosecution of Iraqi cases, assisting the investigators."

The LAOTF team of Airmen, Sailors and Soldiers, maintains the physical evidence along with the written case files. Though in the Iraqi criminal justice system, witnesses are more important than evidence before a judge.

"What we're doing is very atypical work for an Air Force paralegal," commented Sergeant Holmes. "Their legal system is complex. Islamic law requires two sufficient witnesses for each case to go before a panel of trial judges."

The paralegals frequently partner with Iraqi federal judges where they review evidence to determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence for a detainee to remain in custody pending an investigation and future criminal trial. The judges reviewed the evidence against an accused person, but consistently ask for either witness statements or live witness testimony, underscoring what Sergeants Holmes and Wilkins learned doing the job in Iraq.

"Our team of lawyers and paralegals are working hard to help the Iraqis migrate to more modern techniques of gathering evidence," described Sergeant Holmes. "We're introducing them to forensics, DNA, fingerprints and ballistics evidence, but they're used to relying on two witnesses in prosecuting cases."

Sergeant Wilkins has ten years of experience in the paralegal career field. She retrained from a previous Air Force job to stay in the military and continue to serve her country.

"When they ask me 'what did you do in Iraq?'" remarked Sergeant Wilkins from Colorado Springs, Colo. "I will respond that I prosecuted terrorists."