The JAG officer who pioneered an effort with the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute contractor misconduct in Iraq will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic Party's county convention Saturday.

Capt. Cal Cunningham, who recently returned from Iraq after his second year-long mobilization in four years, will speak shortly after the convention opens at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Moore County Agriculture Center in Carthage. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m.

Morgan Jackson, a Moore County native and longtime Democratic Party activist, helped to secure Cunningham as speaker, according to Mary Alice Wicker, who is handling convention arrangements.

In 2008, Cunningham served as senior trial counsel with the Multi-National Corps-Iraq, where he led the first court-martial of a contractor under military law since 1968. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service and will be recognized in May by the Army chief of staff with the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award.

Cunningham is a native of Lexington and a paratrooper with the U.S. Army, Judge Advocate General's Corps.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's print edition of The Pilot.