Spc. Joseph Darby

Truth Teller
Spc. Joseph Darby, Iraq Prison Whistle-Blower, Followed His Conscience
By Peter Jennings
ABCNEWS.com

May 7, 2004— Army Spc. Joseph Darby, 24, is the man who sounded the first alarm about the abuse of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison — by people in his own 372nd Military Police Company.

The New Yorker magazine was the first to report that after seeing the pictures we are all so familiar with now, Darby put an anonymous note under the door of his commander. He described the incidents and the photographs he had seen.
Darby is quoted by a criminal investigator as feeling very badly about something he thought was very wrong.

"It was really hard on him," said Margaret Blank, Darby's mother. "He didn't want to go against ... his troops. It cut him in half, but he said he could not stand the atrocities that he had stumbled upon. He said he kept thinking, 'What if that was my mom, my grandmother, my brother or my wife?' "

Darby later came forward and identified himself as the person who had sent the note.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on May 8, 2004 - 8:35pm :: War
 
 

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I cannot believe the hate that is pouring out against this man. People believe he gave those pictures to the press instead of his commanding officers. He truely needs protection.
Take care and be safe.

Posted by  Rose Jordan (not verified) on May 10, 2004 - 5:48pm.

Darby is an honorable man. That's all.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 10, 2004 - 9:01pm.

I'm praying for his safety against brainless,heartless monsters.

Posted by  Sema Dogan (not verified) on May 11, 2004 - 2:54pm.

This soldier's intention may have been good but not smart. Many U.S. Soldiers and civilians have been captured by Iraqui's militia and have been tortured in ways unimaginable to us. Few of that is actually brought to light. Now we bring this so called torture(can't be compared to the torture of Iraq's militia) to light and already people are dying as a result, like the 26 year old contractor out of Pensylvannia who was decapitated in video. They also made threats to continue doing this. Now that is torture!

Posted by  Janet (not verified) on May 11, 2004 - 3:39pm.

Forgive me Janet, but how do you know about these unimaginable tortures?

I've seen no decapitation video either, and strongly doubt it's existance…it would have hit the media like a bombshell.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 11, 2004 - 6:00pm.

Unfortunately, the decapitation of the young contractor from West Chester, PA is true and all news orgs are now heavily reporting the story.

Posted by  BlissfulD (not verified) on May 11, 2004 - 7:11pm.

Yeah, I just saw that.

I'd be better able to react if I trusted the government and its media connections. For now I have no opinion on whether it's real or not.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 11, 2004 - 7:52pm.

P6, Apology accepted. I'm also sorry to inform you that last year a journalist was also decapitated in the middle east and the tragic event was also video taped. This isn't the first time this occurs. It's a shame you can't trust the government you live in, being the same government that allows you to have such opinions. Although we obviously have different points of view, I absolutely respect your views and opinions.

Posted by  Janet (not verified) on May 11, 2004 - 11:34pm.

a shame you can't trust the government you live in, being the same government that allows you to have such opinions.

On this we agree. Though it's more the current occupants than the government itself I distrust. I'd have been more accurate, but it's been kind of a tiring day.

Although we obviously have different points of view, I absolutely respect your views and opinions.

Thanks. Different points of view presented as you have show they don't have to become disagreements

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 11, 2004 - 11:48pm.

But for how long will they allow us these opinions? Do a lot of research on berg...things are not as they seem.

Posted by  Kevin (not verified) on May 15, 2004 - 7:42pm.

I know, Kevin. Really.

My Berg post basically said "WFT?" See, I had just read an Iraqi blogger who said she was told back when the four mercenaries were lynched that they were interrogation trainers for Abu Gharib.

That means they were
1- stupid
2- arrogant
3- not too worthy of sympathy

Now I've read about Berg's Israeli passport, and his choosing to stay for whatever reason, and the fact that no one is admitted they had him while his father has a telegram or some such from the Feds saying he was in their custody.

It's a nasty mess. I'm not even pretending I know what's up with it beyond the fact that none of it would have happened if we had an adult for President.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 15, 2004 - 8:58pm.

Berg was detained at Abu Ghraib for 13 days. The defense department tried to lie about it, but Berg's parents have record of contact from the FBI and an Iraqi diplomat that emailed them stating that their son was detained by the military.

I can't really agree with getting rid of Bush though...what you need to realize is that the Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin. It's a shell game that uses minor issues to fulfill both sides of the population but when it comes to major foreign policy, something that, until wartime, the american public doesn't care about, they all work the same way and have for decades.

The american population is snowed into thinking that they have a choice, that their vote counts, and that there is a difference between the man in the White house. That is not the case.

Bush needs to be in the White House because they have engineered World War III in their response to the attack of 9/11, and Kerry would be much more ineffective. He would hand over the reigns of global control to the U.N., one of the most corrupt and scavenger-like organization on the planet. Our government is corrupt and there is no way around it. Personally, I'd rather be top dog then a subject to the world. Things will most likely change after it all is sorted out...life is evolution, but we are going to go through bad times before we get there.

Don't fall for the political bullshit.

Posted by  Kevin (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 12:15am.

Ah...one more thing...Should make you happy as it almost certainly is rumsfield's undoing, and possibly bush's. Although, Ashcroft is the one I REALLY want to see go.

http://newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040524fa_fact

Posted by  Kevin (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 12:16am.

I take it you're registered Green.

All I can say is, it's not possible to have botched this worse than the Bushistas have. And I defy you to find a government that's LESS corrupt than the UN.

Yes they've engineered WW III…something no Democrat would have done, so there's a difference right there.

No, the way to go is to turn Bush's ass out into the street, and then keep reminding Kerry (or Gore) he too can be fired.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 12:51am.

Nope...not an activist at all...just passing information along...I'm a libertarian...the only presidential election I voted in was for Clinton in 96...couldn't stand Bush only because I have seen him in action in person.

I just believe in educating myself and others...

Check out www.infowars.com

Oh..and as for a democrat not engineering a war...Check out Franklin Roosevelt and his generals allowing the bombing of Pearl Harbor to provide a pretext for getting the U.S. into WW II.

A patrol encountered a japanese sub, called it in, and were told to leave it be and too monitor it. In addition to that, a newly installed radar station was conducting sweeps, called in possible contacts, and were shortly thereafter told to take the rest of the day off. That is in Tora Tora Tora (older movie) and also in the multimedia presentation they do AT THE BASE at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. I've seen it myself. A google should reveal "legitimate, mainstream" articles rather quickly on the subject, as it has come up recently in the news (last few months...possibly last year).

If that isn't enough, do a google on the Northwoods Document. It's a CIA unclassified document (most sites you will find it on will have the actual screen captures, and you may even be able to pull it off cia.gov) that details a series of suggestions that the Joint Chiefs of Staff made upon Kennedy's request to engineer a pretext to invade Cuba and depose Castro. A couple of the suggestions involved a CIA created terrorist attack in Miami, and painting up military drone planes (they had the ability to control them as early as the 60's...we went to the moon for heaven's sake) as commercial jets and flying them over Cuba until they were shot down.

Kennedy, to his great credit didn't want to do any of that. Shortly after that, a CIA agent by the name of G. Bush was involved in the bay of pigs invasion....I guess that was a pretext Kennedy COULD live with...plausible deniability and all that.

It's a rabbit hole..and it's all out there in the archives of the mass media that everyone seems to require news to be filtered through to be considered true. You can piece it all together.

While you are at it..try typing in "Tom Kennedy Dan Rather FEMA" and find a link that is still alive that has that audio....then ask yourself one question....Monday night?

Posted by  Kevin (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 1:29am.

Oh..one more thing....if you have yet to see the beheading video, try going to this link:

www.schnittshow.com. He's got a few mirrors of it. Just a question to be answered after you watch it, I'd like another perspective. When they grab him and pull him down, does his reaction change at all?

Posted by  Kevin (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 1:31am.

When I said starting this war was something no Democrat would do, I am not considering dead Democrats. And in fact I will not consider dead Democrats. Except Zell, I guess, but I wouldn't vote for a quisling either.

To say you have no respect for either of the current candidates is one thing, and I wouldn't dispute you at all. But to say there's no different between the two is absurd.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 6:32am.

Okay...living democrats.

Clinton sold the cell phones to Syria that were used in the 9/11 attacks. He also refused the capture of Bin Laden 3 times. He also was the guy who helped China get into space, and gave them a drastic upgrade in their nuke technology.

So remember that you think there is no difference whenever we are facing China and nukes start flying..If you think you have a choice, then you are still a slave..

Research for yourself..don't let the mainstream press play you off against the other side...issues are just the fluff that keep the american public asleep...the wars go on and are perpetuated by democrats and republicans alike and when the show is over at the end of the day, they go home and laugh like hell about how smart they are and how dumb we are.

Bush is a scumbag, no question..but so is Kerry..about the only politician I would trust is Ron Paul these days...he's one of the few (after Mckinney got lynched) that will speak the truth..Check out his speech on neo-conservatives...

Open your eyes...

Posted by  Kevin (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 6:51pm.

Your email address says "[email protected]".

Good. Because you've become rather insulting. "Open your eyes" indeed. Obviously you haven't read around this site. And this past week has found me fresh out of tolerance for people who rant based on assumptions about me.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on May 16, 2004 - 8:06pm.