[JURIST] US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official profile; JURIST news archive] discussed ongoing DOJ efforts to promote the rule of law in Iraq [press release; fact sheet, PDF] during his first official trip to Baghdad Wednesday. Mukasey met with three high ranking judiciary officials, including the head of Iraq's Higher Judicial Council Chief Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud, to discuss US efforts to aid in the establishment of an independent Iraqi judiciary. AP has more.

US efforts to establish the rule of law in Iraq have met with some criticism. In November 2007, a delegation of lawyers from the Iraqi bar association hand-delivered a letter [JURIST report] to several US lawmakers that criticized the US government for not devoting adequate financial resources to ensure the rule of law in Iraq. Last week, a former senior advisor for legislative framework in the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office told US Ambassador Ryan Crocker in a memo [PDF text; JURIST report] that US officials in the country had "mostly ignored legal culture institutions that address underlying requirements for the very success of the rule of law."