The president of the Iraqi bar association hand-delivered a letter to House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Arlen Specter (Pa.) Wednesday calling for better treatment of detainees in Iraq and criticizing the U.S. government for not doing enough to build Iraq’s legal system.

Aswad al-Minshidi and a group of prominent Iraqi lawyers have sent the same letter to President Bush. On Tuesday, they shared their concerns in a private meeting with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. They also met with Emmet Flood, special counsel to the president.

“We all have an interest in justice and as American lawyers tell us, justice delayed is justice denied,” wrote al-Minshidi, the Shiite president of the bar association. “Moreover, a people’s respect for the rule of law, which is the keystone of a lawful society, is also affected by the mere appearance of injustice.

“We ask that more resources be made available to expedite the investigation and trial of all prisoners held by multinational forces in Iraq,” he wrote.

Al-Minshidi prefaced his letter by expressing his gratitude for the American efforts to rebuild his country and emphasized that terrorists and anti-democratic regimes are a common enemy.

Blunt criticized Democrats for undermining the military effort to achieve stability, but did not comment on the letter’s criticism of how detainees have been treated.

“This is the 58th time we’re voting on restrictions on how long American forces can stay in Iraq,” he told the Iraqis. “We will continue our policies for a secure Iraq.”

In Congress this year, debate has focused on the legal rights of terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and whether suspected terrorists should be subjected to harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. But far less attention has been paid to the plight of civilians caught up in security dragnets. In Iraq, 15,000 people are incarcerated at Camp Bucca, and 5,000 are held at Camp Cropper, said a State Department official.

In the letter, the Iraqi lawyers also shared their “grave concern for recent tragic conduct of contracted security forces.” The conduct of security companies working for the U.S. government, a hot topic in Congress, will likely receive renewed attention in the wake of findings by FBI investigators that Blackwater USA private security personnel killed 14 Iraqi civilians without justification during a Sept. 16 firefight.

Iraqi lawyers have also criticized the lack of U.S. resources devoted to rebuilding a legal system that fell into shambles under former President Saddam Hussein.

“[O]ur legal culture is in need of assistance and America’s millions of dollars have done little to assist our institutions,” wrote the head of Iraq’s bar association. “For example, you have established 18 benchmarks for Iraqi progress, seven are legislative, yet not one American dollar has been spent to assist the State Council, the oldest, most legitimate and respected legislative institution in our country. Our 36 law schools graduate over 1,000 lawyers every year, yet your embassy has done nothing to assist them to set their sights on the future.”

A State Department officer who has worked with the Iraqi lawyers said that American officials in Iraq have focused their efforts on prosecuting insurgents and putting them in jail, but that that is only one facet of a working legal system. He said more attention needs to be paid to developing the bar association in Iraq, fostering modern standards at law schools and creating an appreciation for the rule of law among the Iraqi populace.

“No country can live without a judge and a lawyer,” al-Minshidi told aides to Blunt during a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Al-Minshidi also emphasized the importance of the U.S. helping to preserve the unity of his country and its national institutions. He asked Blunt to pressure the Iraqi government to push for national reconciliation, a noteworthy stance for a Shiite leader. Many high-ranking officials in the Shiite-dominated national government have resisted integrating rival Sunnis into positions of power.

Al-Minshidi told The Hill that he was most concerned about establishing security in Iraq and that doing so was only possible in the absence of sectarian friction.     

Hisham al-Fityan, a Sunni and vice president of the Iraqi bar association, and Wrea Ahmad, president of the Kurdish bar association, also attended the meetings with Blunt and other lawmakers. The lawyers also met with Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), a member of the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees.

In the Senate they met with a handful of Judiciary Committee members including Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

The meetings, in which the Iraqis delivered their critical assessments of U.S.-led coalition legal procedures and the development of civil society in their country, were organized by a former Senate leadership staffer, Manuel Miranda, who is now the director of legislative statecraft at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Miranda declined to comment on or off the record on the Iraqi lawyers’ demands. Background information on their views was supplied by another official.

Miranda, who was once in charge of winning confirmation for Bush’s conservative judicial nominees, is now tasked with modernizing an Iraqi legal system that has been stunted by years of despotic rule under Hussein.

In the Senate, Miranda had a reputation for getting attention and confronting controversy head on. He organized a historic 40-hour debate on judges to protest Democratic obstruction of conservative nominees. He also became embroiled in a vicious partisan fight over the publication of internal Democratic memos detailing strategy on blocking judicial nominees.

Miranda’s hand in organizing an effort critical of aspects of the U.S. mission, including the American embassy’s work, is not shocking to those who know him.

A fellow State Department official noted that Miranda is a political appointee and said he is not afraid of offending the bureaucratic culture.