Wednesday December 13, 2006 8:01 AM
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Justice Department officials can expect stepped-up oversight of the Bush administration's war on terrorism and - perhaps - some all-expense-paid tickets to Iraq to help train the corrupt police force there, the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says.
Sen. Patrick Leahy's agenda includes a look at about a dozen recommendations by the Iraq Study Group to send law enforcement officials from the FBI and other offices in the Justice Department to the war-torn nation to boost a police force riddled with corruption. Leahy noted that over the weekend that Iraqi police allegedly helped Saddam Hussein's nephew, Ayman Sabawi, escape from a prison near Mosul.
``The police force has proven to be one of the worst failures of the occupation,'' Leahy, D-Vt., said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday. ``I look forward to the Judiciary Committee contributing to these efforts by exploring the dozen recommendations relating to the Iraqi justice system and the training of Iraqi police forces.''
Leahy did not plan to outline many details of his agenda in the speech at Georgetown University. But he said reclaiming the chairmanship after a brief possession of the gavel in 2001-02 would be a period of ``restoration, repair and renewal'' after what he termed years of the Bush administration's virtually unchecked power to hunt for terrorists even within U.S. borders.
more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6277317,00.html