If you got to this blog from the American Lawyer home page, you clicked on a photo of Iraq’s Central Criminal Court. And, yes, that is a giant clock protruding from the top.
The structure was built to commemorate the Arab Summit of 1980 and was later used to hold all the booty Saddam Hussein received as gifts from other leaders. During the US invasion, the clock and the building were badly damaged and the building was looted. It was renovated several years ago and now handles coalition-held detainees and political corruption cases. Though technically in the Red Zone, one entrance to the courthouse is a short walk from a metal door in the T-wall that lines an expressway heading out of Baghdad. I visited it this morning with the rule of law team.
