Iraqi Interior Ministry Charges 57 With Corruption

For the first time, the Iraqi Interior Ministry has charged members of its Shiite-oriented forces, including high-ranking officers, with torturing Iraqi Sunnis. 57 were implicated, but only 55 are now being charged.

Apparently the documentation very clearly indicates that torture was occurring at a Baghdad prison known as "Site 4."

Problematic units included the special police commandos and the public order brigade.

This is seen as a test of the power of new Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, who replaced Bayan Jabr, widely seen as having transformed the Interior Ministry into a haven for Shiite militiamen. Bolani is independent, but not politically connected enough to remove those with ties to the militia-linked Shiite government.

One thing that seems to have worked is that Bolani set up committees to find evidence of human rights violations and uses this evidence to move forward with removing violators from positions in his agency.

One interesting angle both the Washington Post and New York Times take on the story is the United States's recent threats to withdraw financial support of the Iraqi government because U.S. law makes it illegal to have dealings with governments that allow gross violations of human rights to go unpunished. If Bolani can come up with pictures and other evidence they can bring to the Americans of human rights violations, the Maliki government has to cooperate with his steps to remove the violators.

If you ever wonder if the so-called Leahy Law was effective, there's your proof.