Baghdad Governorate
Baghdad Governorate ( ar, محافظة بغداد ''Muḥāfaẓät Baġdād''), also known as the Baghdad Province, is the capital governorate of Iraq
Iraq ( ar, ٱلْعِرَاق, '; ku, عێراق '), officially the Republic of Iraq ...
of Iraq
Iraq ( ar, الْعِرَاق, translit=al-ʿIrāq; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq), officially the Republic of Iraq ( ar, جُمْهُورِيَّة ٱلْعِرَاق '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq), is a country i ...
, located just west of Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد ) is the capital of and one of the in the , and compared to its large population it has a small area at just 673 square kilometers (260 sq mi). Located along the , near the ruins of the city of and the anc ...
's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport
Baghdad International Airport , previously Saddam International Airport ( ar, مطار بغداد الدولي, Maṭār Baġdād ad-Dawaliyy), is Iraq's largest international airport, located in a suburb about west of downtown Baghdad in the B ...
. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road to Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ') is a country in Western Asia
Western Asia, also West Asia, is the westernmost subregion of Asia. It is entirely a part of the Greater Middle East. It in ...
passes through Abu Ghraib. The government of Iraq created the city and Abu Ghraib District in 1944.
The placename has been translated as "father
A father is the male
Male (♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete known as sperm. A male gamete can fuse with a larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male cannot sexual reproduction, reproduce sex ...
of little crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of species including:
* ''Corvus albus'' – pied crow (Central African coasts to southern Africa)
* ''Co ...
s" (in the sense of "place abundant in small crows"), but this translation has been suspected of being a folk etymology
Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familia ...
, and the name may be related to ''gharb'' ("west") instead.
Abu Ghraib was known for the Abu Ghraib Infant Formula Plant, which Western intelligence agencies
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives.
Means of inf ...
perennially claimed to be a biological weapon
A culture of '' Bacillus anthracis'', the causative agent of anthrax.">anthrax.html" ;"title="Bacillus anthracis'', the causative agent of anthrax">Bacillus anthracis'', the causative agent of anthrax.
A biological agent (also called bio-agent, ...
s production facility. The plant was built in 1980 and painted with a dappled camouflage pattern during the Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War), whereas Western sources use that name to refer to the conflict between the American-led coalition and Iraq in 1991., name=, group= ( fa, جنگ ایران و عراق; ar, الحرب الإيرانية العراقية) ...
. It was bombed during the Gulf War
The Gulf War was a war waged by Coalition of the Gulf War, coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq in response to Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait, invasion and annexation of Kuwait arising from oil pr ...
, and the Iraqi government allowed CNN reporter Peter Arnett
Peter Gregg Arnett (born 13 November 1934) is a New Zealand-born journalist, holding both New Zealand and US citizenship, He is known for his coverage of the Vietnam War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Vietnam War{{native ...
to film the destroyed building along with a conspicuous hand-painted sign that read, "baby milk factory". Iraq partially rebuilt the facility afterward, and US Secretary of State Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Force ...
falsely cited it again as a weapons production plant in the run-up to the Iraq War
The Iraq WarThe conflict is also known as the Second Gulf War or the Third Gulf War by those who consider the Iran–Iraq War the first Gulf War. The war was also called the Second Iraq War referring to the Gulf War as the first Iraq war.
The p ...
, even though the CIA’s own investigation had concluded that the site had been bombed “in the mistaken belief that it was a key BW iological Weaponfacility.” Also, an examination of suspected weapons facilities by the Iraq Survey Group
250px, A UN weapons inspector in Iraq.
The Iraq Survey Group (ISG) was a fact-finding mission sent by the multinational force in Iraq to find the Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction alleged to be possessed by Iraq that ...
later determined that the plant, in disuse for some time, housed discarded infant formula
Infant formula, baby formula or just formula (American English
American English (AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US), sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United S ...
, but found no evidence of weapons production.
The city is also the site of Abu Ghraib prison, which was one of the sites where political dissidents were incarcerated under former ruler Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (; Arabic alphabet, Arabic: '; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the rev ...
. Thousands of these dissidents were tortured and executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for a crime. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that someone is punished with the death penalty is called a dea ...
. After Saddam Hussein's fall, the Abu Ghraib prison was used by American forces in Iraq. In 2003, Abu Ghraib prison earned international notoriety for the torture and abuses by members of the United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land
Land is the solid surface of Earth that is not permanently submerged in water. Most but not all land is situated at elevations above sea level (variable over geologic time frames) and consists ma ...
during the post-invasion period.
References
External links
Discussing, and Pronouncing, Abu Ghraib
''
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American privately and publicly funded non-profit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washin ...
'' story on Abu Ghraib pronunciation, August 26, 2004.
{{Portal, Iraq
Populated places in Baghdad Province