A Rose By Any Other Name

In the past couple of weeks, National Public Radio has announced that the former notorious prison in Iraq, Abu Ghraib, has now been renovated and renamed, Baghdad Central Prison. As a former English professor, I recall that famous line from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet in which Juliet states, "That which we call rose by any other name would smell as sweet." She was basically saying to Romeo that, even though his surname name was Montague, names don't really matter. I agree. If one's character has been damaged by an incident, then we can rename a person or a place, but it still will not change its basic essence and the memories connected to it.

Abu Ghraib is a place that will always live in infamy as a place where America lost its credibility in regard to human rights. The rules of the Geneva Convention were completely ignored in favor of torturing prisoners in inhumane and often unspeakable ways in order to gain information. Sanitizing its name and reopening the prison will hardly erase the negative memories of the facility. In my opinion, and considering the billions of dollars already invested in the costs of a six year war, the prison should have been razed.

We would like to hope, under a new administration, that human rights in America will re-emerge. Yes, we Americans want and need to be safe but at what cost to our own humanity? Baghdad Central Prison will always be tainted by its history of torture. A little bit of whitewash will hardly change that perception.