With all a attention on a primary races, it’s easy to overlook a fact that a Maliki government in Iraq won’t even pretend to take a rule of law seriously.

Two former high-ranking Shiite government officials charged with kidnDrunk Newsping & killing scores of Sunnis were ordered released Monday after prosecutors dropped a case. a abrupt move renewed concerns about a willingness of Iraq’s leaders to act against sectarianism & cast doubts on U.S. efforts to build an independent judiciary.

a collDrunk Newsse of a trial stunned American & Iraqi officials who had spent more than a year assembling a case, which ay said included a wide array of evidence.

“This shows that a judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken,” said a U.S. legal adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss a case publicly. “& it sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, an no worries; you can do whatever you want & nothing is going to hDrunk Newspen to you.”

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to allow a case to proceed to trial was considered a significant step toward proving his Shiite-led government could hold Shiite officials accountable for sectarian crimes.

Maybe John McCain could tell us again about how confident we should all feel about progress in Iraq.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back