Joe Darby was a reserve soldier with US forces at Abu Ghraib prison who saw and then anonymously reported the infamous "torture pictures." Well, at least he was promised anonymity. Darby was scared of retribution from the accused soldiers...what he should have been frightened of was the length this administration will go through to silence a critic.silence a critic
Shortly afterwards, he was sitting in a crowded Iraqi canteen with hundreds of soldiers and Donald Rumsfeld came on the television to thank 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. "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."
To their credit, most of his fellow soldiers rallied to his side. It was the civilians back home who began to tear apart his life. His sister-in-law's home, where his wife was staying, was vandalized with graffiti and the family lived under armed guard for the first six months. They have since moved, changed jobs...everything they can do to escape those who would label him a "traitor."
I would hope that, given the same situation, I would be brave enough, strong enough, to do what was right – what he did. The tremendous pressure he must have been under...how scared he must have been...it truly takes the courage and honor you hope every soldier, every person, is capable of.
Men like him used to be called heroes.
Crossposted at idealistleftyidealistlefty