Abu Ghraib: The pictures that told the truth

Joe Darby the brave soldier who triggered the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal by sending incriminating photos to military investigators said last Wednesday that he feared retaliation by the other GIs particularly when Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mentioned his name at a Senate hearing.

Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib were brutalized and sexually humiliated by US military police and intelligence agents in the autumn of 2003.

Photos of the abuse stirred global condemnation of U.S. military practices in Iraq. At least 11 U.S. soldiers have been convicted in the scandal. Spc. Charles Graner and Pfc. Lynndie England, who were depicted in the photos, are serving 10 years and three years in prison respectively.


More pictures can be found at the following link: SMH Australia / Wikipedia

His worst moment, he said, came on May 7, 2004, during lunch with 10 fellow MPs in a mess hall filled with 400 troops.

"It was like something out of a movie," he recalled. Rumsfeld appeared on television, dropped Darby's name, "and the guys at the table just stopped eating and looked at me. I got up and got the hell out of there."

Darby has been branded a traitor by some of his relatives and also from people in his home town.

"I had the choice between what I knew was morally right and my loyalty to other soldiers.”

He has only returned home twice, for a wedding and his mother's funeral.

"I'm not welcome there. People there don't look at the fact that I knew right from wrong. They look at the fact that I put an Iraqi before an American."

If only we had more people like Joe Darby, we would all be living in a better world. Well done sir, you have the respect of the world even though your home town does not respect you.