Joe Darby is a hero (public version)
He is the man who blew the whistle on Abu Ghraib. He was a reserve soldier in Iraq in 2004. He was given a CD of the photos by one of the people involved. In the words of one profile, "They were photographs of his colleagues, some of them men and women he had known since high school - torturing and abusing Iraqi prisoners."
And so, stunned and disgusted, Darby turned the CD over to a special agent of the US Army Criminal Investigation Command. He was promised anonymity and hoped that that would put an end to it.
But he was scared of retribution.
Darby said in an interview, that "Four to six weeks before they were charged, … they were still on the installation. They still had their weapons. They just weren't working in prison".
In another interview, he noted that, "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 defendants were finally arrested, he thought he could sleep easier.
And then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld blew his cover. He was sitting in a crowded Iraqi canteen with hundreds of soldiers when Rumsfeld came on the television and said, "There are many who did their duty professionally. First Spc. Joseph Darby, who alerted the proper authorities that abuses were occurring".
Darby says that he does not believe that Rumsfeld's words were accidental. "I really find it hard to believe that the Secretary of Defense of the United States has no idea about the star witness for a criminal case being anonymous." He later received a letter saying that Rumsfeld had intended to praise Darby, and had no idea of his anonymous status.
But whether Rumsfeld's words were intentional or not, I am gratified to say that Darby found that most of the soldiers he talked to said that he had dome a good thing. In fact, many stories report that most of the soldiers in his unit shook his hand.
The attitude stateside was a different story.
Many in his home town call him a traitor. When Darby was named, his wife had to flee to her sister's house which was then vandalized with graffiti.
One reporter interviewed people at a bar in Darby's home town. He elicited quotes like, "If I were [Darby], I'd be sneaking in through the back door at midnight", and, "They can call him what they want, I call him a rat." The commander of the local VFW post has said, "He was a traitor. He let his unit down. He let his fellow soldiers down and the U.S. military. Basically he was no good".
Threats against his wife and mother drove him and his family from their home in Maryland. They lived under armed protection for the first six months. The Army's security assessment of his hometown concluded that "the overall threat of harassment or criminal activity to the Darbys is imminent." Darby and his family have moved to a new town. They have new jobs. People on both sides of his family have turned against him.
"Ignorance is bliss they say but, to actually know what they were doing, you can't stand by and let that happen," Darby said in an interview with 60 Minutes II, "We're Americans, we're not Saddam. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. Our soldiers hold themselves to a higher standard."
Thank you, Joe Darby. Thank you for being the kind of soldier my grandfathers would be proud of. Thank you for standing up for what you know is right. Thank you for holding yourself to that higher standard and for understanding what patriotism really is. Thank you.
And so, stunned and disgusted, Darby turned the CD over to a special agent of the US Army Criminal Investigation Command. He was promised anonymity and hoped that that would put an end to it.
But he was scared of retribution.
Darby said in an interview, that "Four to six weeks before they were charged, … they were still on the installation. They still had their weapons. They just weren't working in prison".
In another interview, he noted that, "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 defendants were finally arrested, he thought he could sleep easier.
And then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld blew his cover. He was sitting in a crowded Iraqi canteen with hundreds of soldiers when Rumsfeld came on the television and said, "There are many who did their duty professionally. First Spc. Joseph Darby, who alerted the proper authorities that abuses were occurring".
Darby says that he does not believe that Rumsfeld's words were accidental. "I really find it hard to believe that the Secretary of Defense of the United States has no idea about the star witness for a criminal case being anonymous." He later received a letter saying that Rumsfeld had intended to praise Darby, and had no idea of his anonymous status.
But whether Rumsfeld's words were intentional or not, I am gratified to say that Darby found that most of the soldiers he talked to said that he had dome a good thing. In fact, many stories report that most of the soldiers in his unit shook his hand.
The attitude stateside was a different story.
Many in his home town call him a traitor. When Darby was named, his wife had to flee to her sister's house which was then vandalized with graffiti.
One reporter interviewed people at a bar in Darby's home town. He elicited quotes like, "If I were [Darby], I'd be sneaking in through the back door at midnight", and, "They can call him what they want, I call him a rat." The commander of the local VFW post has said, "He was a traitor. He let his unit down. He let his fellow soldiers down and the U.S. military. Basically he was no good".
Threats against his wife and mother drove him and his family from their home in Maryland. They lived under armed protection for the first six months. The Army's security assessment of his hometown concluded that "the overall threat of harassment or criminal activity to the Darbys is imminent." Darby and his family have moved to a new town. They have new jobs. People on both sides of his family have turned against him.
"Ignorance is bliss they say but, to actually know what they were doing, you can't stand by and let that happen," Darby said in an interview with 60 Minutes II, "We're Americans, we're not Saddam. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. Our soldiers hold themselves to a higher standard."
Thank you, Joe Darby. Thank you for being the kind of soldier my grandfathers would be proud of. Thank you for standing up for what you know is right. Thank you for holding yourself to that higher standard and for understanding what patriotism really is. Thank you.