skunk
Aug 5, 2007, 04:10 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6930197.stmJoe 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.
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.What exactly are the "leadership qualities" required by this Administration? Can the bar get any lower?
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.
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.What exactly are the "leadership qualities" required by this Administration? Can the bar get any lower?
