U.S. Colonel worked with Iraq judiciary after retirement

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com

U.S. Army Reserve Colonel (Retired) Larry Rubini, 62, is diligent and hardworking. He has twice retired from the U.S. Army Reserve, but was called back to work with the Iraq judiciary.He still hasn't retired. Rubini has served as a U.S. Administrative Law Judge for the last 15 years in the U.S. Social Security Administration in the Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Rubini quoted Yogi Berra: "It ain't over 'til it's over!"

In Iraq, Rubini worked mostly out of Bagdad in and out of "The Green Zone" in an old Saddam Hussein palace, which he described as ½-mile long and ¼-mile wide.

Rubini was with the Coalition Provisional Authority. Members were "mentors" to the Iraqis, Rubini explained. He said the idea is that "they'll find their way to Rule of Law."

Rubini said it was strange to work in the actual rooms where Saddam Hussein decided when victims would be executed.

Not long after Hussein's horrific commands in the palace, Rubini and his colleagues worked. There were no living spaces inside and there were very small working accommodations. There were trailers out back to live in. Rubini was grateful for the trailers. The colonel had expected to sleep on the ground.

They worked seven days a week and they were 16-hour days.

Explaining his most recent years in the U.S. Army Reserve, Rubini said he was asked to go back. He had left because of a mandatory retirement date. While he was still retired, the invasion of Iraq happened in the Spring of 2003. He had followed the invasion "very closely."

Rubini worked for Ambassador L. Paul Premer. From September 2003 to February 2004, he was Senior Advisor to the Iraq Ministry of Justice.

He worked with the Iraq judiciary to establish Rule of Law and a justice system.

"Our object was never to impose the American system or culture on them," according to Rubini.

About 25 coalition lawyers (U.S. military and civilian) worked with him. They were from the U.K., Spain and South Korea. About 50 Iraqi lawyers also worked for him.

Rubini coordinated with the Armed Forces JAG and Civil Affairs lawyers throughout Iraq. "JAG" is an acronym for "Judge Advocate General Corps". The U.S. Army Civil Affairs branch was formerly the military government branch of the Army in World War II. Rubini had been a JAG officer and also served in the Civil Affairs branch.

Rubini was in Iraq when Hussein was captured. "When he was captured, they knew the Americans were serious and the Iraqi government was serious that he would not come back. He received a fair trial," he said.

"After [Hussein's] execution, people had more belief in their own government than when he was alive," he said.

Describing the Iraqi people, Rubini said, "They're very bright. They're very smart and cunning at the same time. You're not working in a Land of Oz. You're working in a brutal area - tribes against other tribes. 'He who controls resources, lives. He who does not, dies.' It's an uncompromising type of environment. Only the smart and cunning survive."

Rubini emphasized that there have been many successors since his work in Iraq. "The effort has been ongoing from the day of invasion to the present," he said.

Serving in Iraq was "the most challenging, seriously intense job a lawyer could ever have," Rubini said. "To be responsible for Iraq's judiciary was the most interesting and challenging work.

"It's a sensitive responsibility to grow a Rule of Law for people who have known dictatorial rule," Rubini said. "Iraq is a country of well educated, sophisticated middle class, wanting a better way of life."

Rubini had previously given legal assistance in the U.S. Army Reserve JAG and developed Law of War and Civil Affairs scenarios for joint command war-game exercises. He was legal advisor to Brigade Commanders.

His Civil Affairs duties were: Desert Storm (legal advisor to Gov/Ministry of Justice of Kuwait); Haiti (Operation Uphold Democracy 1994 to 1997); legal advisor to Gov/Ministry of Justice of Haiti; Central America, 1999; Operation New Horizons - Hurricane Mitch reconstruction; and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) - senior advisor to Gov/Ministry of Justice of Iraq on the Coalition Provisional Authority.

When he was young, Rubini had thought of a military career and went to a military college - Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI).

Rubini's early military career started with an "obligated" period of active duty. Rubini then entered the U.S. Army Reserve, which let him go on to a civilian career as a practicing lawyer which he did for 22 years.

His time in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Army Reserve spanned most of his life. He entered military college at 18 and was commissioned at age 22. He is now 62. He served in the Reserve for 32 years.

Rubini was in Civil Affairs from 1989 to his first retirement from the Reserve in 2000. Rubini said he "unretired" in 2003 and served in Iraq on the Coalition Provisional Authority from 2003 to 2004 and retired for a second time in 2004.

Rubini earned his bachelor's of arts degree in political science from VPI. He entered the VPI Corps of Cadets. He earned his juris doctor from Temple University Law School.

He lives in Newtown, with his wife, Joan, a registered nurse. They have two sons, one who is a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard.