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Iraq Council Slams Plan to Destroy Prison
President Bush's offer to demolish Abu Ghraib prison found little support among Iraqis, with the head of the Governing Council on Wednesday calling the idea "a waste of resources." "We must not be sentimental," Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer told reporters. "Torture has taken place in every vault in Iraq. As the Governing Council, we do not agree with demolishing it and the matter will be left for the transitional government" which takes office June 30. He called the idea of destroying the prison "a waste of resources."
Bush told an audience Monday night at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., that Abu Ghraib, scene of prisoner abuse by U.S. troops and notorious for torture under Saddam Hussein, will be destroyed "as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning." But the offer has found no takers. Some Iraqi leaders and human rights activists criticized Bush's proposal, arguing the country needs prisons - albeit well-run ones - and cannot afford the luxury of tearing down usable structures - even if it means stamping out symbols of past repression. Interior Minister Samir Shaker Mahmoud al-Sumeidi said he understood Bush's desire to "remove the memory and the stain" of the prisoner abuse scandal. Still, he argued it would be better to change the way the prison is managed rather than construct a new building.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-05-27 |
