ABSTRACT
In recent years, interest in the use of truth commissions as a mechanism of transitional justice and the consolidation of democratic change has blossomed.1 From Sierra Leone to Greensboro, North Carolina, a preferred means of dealing with past injustices and abuses is the creation of a process by which truth can be discovered and certified. The hope of these processes is that the truth will facilitate healing, leading to reconciliation, and ultimately the substitution of peaceful political competition for violent and destructive confrontations. It is little wonder then that wartorn countries like Iraq (and many others) are considering the possibility of implementing some sort of truth process.
