Browse > Home / A Different View of Iraq / Abu Ghraib To Be Turned Into A Museum

Abu Ghraib To Be Turned Into A Museum

September 5, 2008

Since 2006, the Abu Ghraib prison has not housed any prisoners. Currently it is undergoing a facelift and the plans are to turn it into a museum that will detail the many abuses perpetrated on the Iraqi people by Saddam Hussein and his regime. The goal is to completely refurbish the facitily which sets on 280 acres, turning part of it into a prison and part of it into a museum that will feature execution chamber exhibits and other displays of torture tools used by Saddam’s regime — including an iron chain used to tie prisoners together. According to the deputy justice minister of Iraq, Busho Ibrahim, nothing compares with the abuses of the Iraqi people by Saddam Hussein, even the tortures of prisoners by some American Soldiers, which was brought to light in 2004.

“There is evidence of the crimes (Saddam committed) such as the hooks used to dangle prisoners, tools used to beat and torture prisoners and … the execution chambers in which 50 or 100 people were killed at once,” he said.1

Full details on the plans were not made public and it’s unknown at this point, if the museum will be open to the public. For the Iraqi people, Abu Ghraib has always been a gruesome place, throughout it’s 4 decades of existence. It’s stands out starkly against the landscape as one of the darkest examples of the horror and terror imposed on the Iraqi people by Saddam Hussein and his regime. It was a place where people were taken, who were only suspected of plotting against Hussein. Former prisoners have told of chemical and biological experiments conducted on them, as well as tiny isolation cells where political prisoners were held. During Saddam’s trial, several former prisoners spoke of the abuse and torture while they were captive there. To this day, it’s unknown how many prisoners were held there, how many lived to tell about it and how many never made it out alive.2

Like the museums that document the horror that was imposed upon the Jewish by Hitler, this museum should serve as an important reminder to future generations, of how corruption and evil can destroy so many innocent lives. I think it’s a fitting use for the prison. I’d be interested in hearing what everyone else thinks about this.

  1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq [↩]
  2. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq [↩]

Written by Terri · Filed Under A Different View of Iraq 

Comments

Got something to say?