Iraq is moving closer to establishing sovereign national and provincial judiciaries, as evidenced with the June 13 opening of Ramadi’s Anbar Judicial Complex. “A nation’s development depends on the respect for the sovereignty of the law,” Anbar province Chief Justice Mohammad Al-Kobaisi said at the opening ceremony. Marking another milestone in Anbar’s transition from violence to peace, the chief justice stood in a former palace villa of Saddam’s family, and made reference to the former infamous regime. “The importance of laws in the community becomes clear,” Al-Kobaisi said. “As an Arabic poet says, the basis of law is one of morals, and if a nation has no morals, it’s done.” Beneath a wooden sign extolling fairness by those who rule others, Al-Kobaisi reminded the audience of key Iraqi tribal, government, police and military officials of the need in every stable society to achieve moral justice, with respect and fairness for all.br /We’re still a long way from having a fully-functioning infrastructure for Iraq so that it can be a state that can protect itself and care for its citizens, but the way to such a time includes many steps like this one.
