9 years ago: House of Horrors

May 4, 2004, on this blog: House of Horrors

Thanks to the hard work of coalition contractors, the useful facility was made even more useful, more modern and more efficient. The coalition’s cleansing of Abu Ghraib involved the work of carpenters, plumbers and painters. It should also have included the work of priests.

The house of horrors has a fresh coat of paint, but it remains a haunted place.

The danger of superstitious tales of haunted houses is that they can be used to mask the moral agency of the people involved. Saddam and his followers should not be allowed to escape responsibility for the evils they ordered and carried out within the evil walls of Abu Ghraib. Nor should its current overlords.

The “superstitious” idea that the prison is an evil, haunted place does not excuse them for the deeds done there any more than they are excused by a “rational,” utilitarian calculus that this house of horrors can now be employed for some greater good.

Abu Ghraib is an unholy place. It is a house of horrors whose only facility is in allowing such horrors to continue.

Burn it down. Burn it down until nothing is left.