Rebuilding Iraq's Justice System

Guest: Jesse Wozniak, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University America had grand plans for Iraq in the years after we toppled Sadaam Hussein’s dictatorship. President George W. Bush spoke to the nation in 2007 saying, “Victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world—a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to the people.” More than a decade later, things have gone so poorly that many Iraqis have rejected US involvement. Last week, Iraqi voters handed a surprisingly strong election victory to a Shiite cleric who is a vehement critic of American policy in the Middle East and fought against US troops as a militia leader after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.