How's the Abu Ghraib whistle-blower doing?

[Vympel]

Link

The US soldier who exposed the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison found himself a marked man after his anonymity was blown in the most astonishing way by Donald Rumsfeld.

When Joe Darby saw the horrific photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison he was stunned.

So stunned that he walked out into the hot Baghdad night and smoked half a dozen cigarettes and agonised over what he should do.

Joe Darby was a reserve soldier with US forces at Abu Ghraib prison when he stumbled across those images which would eventually shock the world in 2004.

They were photographs of his colleagues, some of them men and women he had known since high school - torturing and abusing Iraqi prisoners.

His decision to hand them over rather than keep quiet changed his life forever.

The military policeman has only been allowed to talk about that struggle very recently, and in his first UK interview, for BBC Radio 4's The Choice, he told Michael Buerk how he made that decision and how he fears for the safety of his family.

Photos of abuse

He had been in Iraq for seven months when he was first handed the photographs on a CD. It was lent to him by a colleague, Charles Graner.

Most of the disc contained general shots around Hilla and Baghdad, but also those infamous photos of abuse.

At first he did not quite believe what he was looking at.

"The first picture I saw, I laughed - because one, it's just a pyramid of naked people - I didn't know it was Iraqi prisoners," he says.

"Because I have seen soldiers do some really stupid things. As I got into the photos more I realised what they were.

"There were photos of Graner beating three prisoners in a group. There was a picture of a naked male Iraqi standing with a bag over his head, holding the head, the sandbagged head of a male Iraqi kneeling between his legs.

"The most pronounced woman in the photographs was Lyndie England, and she was leading prisoners around on a leash. She was giving a thumbs-up and standing behind the pyramid, you know with the thumbs-up, standing next to Graner. Posing with one of the Iraqi prisoners who had died."

Promised anonymity

Joe Darby knew what he saw was wrong, but it took him three weeks to decide to hand those photographs in. When he finally did, he was promised anonymity and hoped he would hear no more about it.

But he was scared of the repercussions from the accused soldiers in the photos.

"I was afraid for retribution not only from them, but from other soldiers," he says.

"At night when I would sleep, they were less than 100 yards from me, and I didn't even have a door on the room I slept in.

"I had a raincoat hanging up for a door. Like I said to my room mate, they could reach their hand in the door - because I slept right by the door - and cut my throat without making a noise, or anybody knowing what was going on, and I was scared of that."

When the accused soldiers were finally removed from the base, he thought his troubles were over.

And then he was sitting in a crowded Iraqi canteen with hundreds of soldiers and Donald Rumsfeld came on the television to thank Joe Darby by name for handing in the photographs.

"I don't think it was an accident because those things are pretty much scripted," Mr Darby says.

"But I did receive a letter from him which said he had no malicious intent, he was only doing it to praise me and he had no idea about my anonymity.

"I really find it hard to believe that the secretary of defence of the United States has no idea about the star witness for a criminal case being anonymous."

Rather than turn on him for betraying colleagues, most of the soldiers in his unit shook his hand. It was at home where the real trouble started.

Labelled a traitor

His wife had no idea that Mr Darby had handed in those photos, but when he was named, she had to flee to her sister's house which was then vandalised with graffiti. Many in his home town called him a traitor.

"I knew that some people wouldn't agree with what I did," he says.

"You have some people who don't view it as right and wrong. They view it as: I put American soldiers in prison over Iraqis."

That animosity in his home town has meant that he still cannot return there.

After Donald Rumsfeld blew his cover, he was bundled out of Iraq very quickly and lived under armed protection for the first six months.

He has since left the army but did testify at the trials of some of those accused of abuse and torture. It is Charles Graner he is most afraid of.

"Seeing Graner across the courtroom was the only one that was difficult during the trial," he says.

"He had a stone-cold stare of hatred the entire time - he wouldn't take his eyes off me the whole time he sat there. I think this is a grudge he will hold till the day he gets out of prison."

Mr Darby and his family have moved to a new town. They have new jobs. They have done everything but change their identities.

But he does not see himself as a hero, or a traitor. Just "a soldier who did his job - no more, no less".

"I've never regretted for one second what I did when I was in Iraq, to turn those pictures in," he says.

Lovely home town.

[Mr Bean]

Poor bastard. Of course back then he had no idea exactly how moronic Rumsfield was, but with hindsight this was predictable. It's a good thing his comrades took everything the right way. It would have been oh so easy for them to turn on him.

[Dark Flame]

Can't people pull their heads out of their asses long enough to see that torture for the sake of torture is wrong?

That being said, I think it's damn courageous of Darby to do what he did. It's a very difficult thing to go against the grain and turn in your friends for doing something wrong. I don't know if I would have, but he did, and he should be given some support instead of hostility.

[Crazy_Vasey]

Shit. This is not the way you reward the good men in your service. I suppose at least his comrades didn't turn on him. That is a definite positive and something nice to hear of after all the recent cases of US soldiers being accused of doing horrendous things in Iraq.

[Edi]

Can't people pull their heads out of their asses long enough to see that torture for the sake of torture is wrong?

No, they don't, because all their lives these people have been indoctrinated that America and Americans can do no wrong, ever. When you confront them with evidence of wrongdoing, they ill get hostile, angry and defensive and accuse you of being anti-American. When you demand answers from them face to face, all you get is excuses, justifications, evasions and bullshit about how it was all really somebody else's fault, or you get the kind of outright defense of that sort of brutality that should automatically be grounds for beating the asshole to a pulp on the spot. That's what you're dealing with on the large scale. The people who will actually look you in the eye and own up to the truth are pretty damn few and far between.

Earlier this year an American guy I knew in fifth grade came to visit for a few days. He and his wife are nice, decent people, but when talk turned to the mess in Iraq (not specifically Abu Ghraib, though), all that came out was excuses and "It's not our fault, we were lied to blah blah blah", the usual routine. I had to bite back my true opinion so as not to ruin the evening, which was otherwise all fine. The ones blinded by jingoism and indoctrination are far more numerous and a lot uglier to deal with.

That being said, I think it's damn courageous of Darby to do what he did. It's a very difficult thing to go against the grain and turn in your friends for doing something wrong. I don't know if I would have, but he did, and he should be given some support instead of hostility.

He deserves the highest honor the US could give him, but he'll never get anything and the war whores will all him a traitor as long as he lives, and the next generation war whores after his death.

[Shroom Man 777]

For Sparta! For Freedomerica!

Though, seriously, this shows you how psychotic and evil the top echelons of the Bush Administration is. You think Rummie let out the guy's name by accident? I think Rummie was looking at that TV camera as if he was looking right into that whistle-blower's face, telling him to go fuck off and die.

[FSTargetDrone]

If for no other reason, if Rumsfeld did nothing else objectionable during his career, naming this man makes Rumsfeld scum.

[Lord Poe]

No, they don't, because all their lives these people have been indoctrinated that America and Americans can do no wrong, ever. When you confront them with evidence of wrongdoing, they ill get hostile, angry and defensive and accuse you of being anti-American.

Yet it was an American soldier who reported the wrongdoings of his fellow soldiers, and it was the American goverment that didn't sweep it under the rug, or deny that it happened. (Hello, Japan!)

Just sayin'.

[Big Orange]

No, they don't, because all their lives these people have been indoctrinated that America and Americans can do no wrong, ever. When you confront them with evidence of wrongdoing, they ill get hostile, angry and defensive and accuse you of being anti-American.

Yet it was an American soldier who reported the wrongdoings of his fellow soldiers, and it was the American goverment that didn't sweep it under the rug, or deny that it happened. (Hello, Japan!)

Just sayin'.

And at least the US Military offered the whistle blower and his family a certain amount of protection when he came back to America, rather than passively aggressively shit all over him like the WWII Japanese military authorities would've very likely done in the same situation (fuck, the Japanese still have a reputation for being pointlessly nasty and belligerent over the most minor slights to this day). And the overly jingoistic, "chicken hawk" pricks that gave Joe Darby a hard time in his home town are likely in the relative minority, but typically have the loudest voice and are more likely going to impulsively show their public disapproval.

[Pelranius]

I hope that anything the chickenshits do to Mr. Darby will be paid back a thousand times once they land in prison. There's nothing like a hands on education.

[Geodd]

No, they don't, because all their lives these people have been indoctrinated that America and Americans can do no wrong, ever. When you confront them with evidence of wrongdoing, they ill get hostile, angry and defensive and accuse you of being anti-American.

Yet it was an American soldier who reported the wrongdoings of his fellow soldiers, and it was the American goverment that didn't sweep it under the rug, or deny that it happened. (Hello, Japan!)

Just sayin'.

So basicly what you're saying is:

Yeah, we didn't handle this very well by any reasonable standard.

But look, there's people who handled other shit even worse!!!

[The Yosemite Bear]

remember under this adminstration war crimes aren't bad. Getting caught, or blowing the wistle on them is bad....

[Edi]

No, they don't, because all their lives these people have been indoctrinated that America and Americans can do no wrong, ever. When you confront them with evidence of wrongdoing, they ill get hostile, angry and defensive and accuse you of being anti-American.

Yet it was an American soldier who reported the wrongdoings of his fellow soldiers, and it was the American goverment that didn't sweep it under the rug, or deny that it happened. (Hello, Japan!)

Just sayin'.

I know, Poe, and he did the right thing. You're missing the point of my post which was that there is a very significant number of Americans who have real problems admitting to wrongdoing on their nation's part even when it is clear, and also a very large number of people who do not care or even applaud it just because. These are the fucks making trouble for Darby and his family, but I'm well aware that there are Americans who would have nothing to do with that sort of assholes. A lot of the membership of this board comes to mind.

But don't expect me to start clarifying that every time these subjects come up, because the reputation of the US internationally is in the gutter and not getting up and out of there anytime soon. The reputation of the US armed forces for actually bringing its members to justice over crimes they commit against nationals of other countries is likewise dismal. All it takes for evil to win is for good men to do nothing, which has been a sadly prevalent hallmark of your country in the last 7 years.

[The Spartan]

Rather than turn on him for betraying colleagues, most of the soldiers in his unit shook his hand. It was at home where the real trouble started.

His wife had no idea that Mr Darby had handed in those photos, but when he was named, she had to flee to her sister's house which was then vandalised with graffiti. Many in his home town called him a traitor.

Support the troops! Support the troops! Wait, one of the troops pointed out others did something wrong? Hang the fucker!

There's some real disconnect between those quotes above. It sickens me that someone serving in the Armed Forces and expects that his fellows should live up to the standards that they have sworn to uphold is demonized and terrorized (yes, irony) for doing just that. Especially when the majority of the troops think he did the right thing. This sounds like Hugh Thompson, Jr. all over again except this time, it seems that his fellow servicemen support him and only the gibbering nutjobs in civilian life think he should be lynched.

[Xisiqomelir]

Canadian political asylum.

[jegs2]

I know, Poe, and he did the right thing. You're missing the point of my post which was that there is a very significant number of Americans who have real problems admitting to wrongdoing on their nation's part even when it is clear, and also a very large number of people who do not care or even applaud it just because. These are the fucks making trouble for Darby and his family, but I'm well aware that there are Americans who would have nothing to do with that sort of assholes. A lot of the membership of this board comes to mind.

Ironically, it seems that American civilians have a tougher time grasping the realities of military wrongdoing than do most in the military. Almost to a man (and woman) each Soldier with whom I've spoken lays the blame for the wrongdoing where it belongs: The Soldiers who were accused of wrongdoing, and the leadership that failed to provide proper direction, motivation, and guidance. No Soldier with whom I've spoken has anything negative to say about the Soldier who turned in the wrongdoers. He did as he was supposed to do. All our Soldiers must learn (and apply) the Army Values. Those values are drilled into the heads of Army recruits from start to finish during Basic Combat Training. The young man in question held to the following:

Integrity
Do what is right, legally and morally.
Be willing to do what is right even when no one is looking.

[Edi]

Ironically, it seems that American civilians have a tougher time grasping the realities of military wrongdoing than do most in the military. <snip>

Thanks, you hit the nail right on the head there. That's very well put and better than I'd probably have managed to say it.

[Block]

I've found that a majority of Americans, when presented with the facts will admit to wrongdoing on an American's part. There is a small minority, that is extremely vocal, who won't. But they're the 25% of Americans that still support Bush. It's not like other countries want to admit human rights abuses on their part either, so the attack on Americans is a bit unfounded.

[The Yosemite Bear]

or as some of us are fond of pointing out, the majority of any population group are idiots.