Truth Teller

Joseph Darby is being lauded for sounding the first alarm on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. (ABCNEWS.com) Truth Teller Spc. Joseph Darby, Iraq Prison Whistle-Blower, Followed His Conscience

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.

"I told him, 'Your picture is in the paper,' " Blank said. "I said, 'Honey, I'm so proud of you because … you did a good thing and good always triumphs over evil. And the truth will always set you free.' And he said, 'You're right, mom.' "

The photographs have had enormous consequences, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cited Darby's actions during testimony before Congress today.

"There are many who did their duty professionally," Rumsfeld said. "Spc. Joseph Darby … alerted the authorities that abuse was occurring."

Human rights workers say that such horror can only be exposed if someone has the courage to come forward.

"Torture flourishes in the dark," said Carroll Bogert of the group Human Rights Watch, "and what Darby has done is to shine a light on what was happening in a place that was dark."

Darby grew up in western Pennsylvania. His family moved around a lot, but when Darby was a teenager they lived in the mining town of Jenners.

In other news...

CNN (May 7, 2004) Iraq. CNN correspondents in Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, made charges today of witnessing crimes against humanity and gross violations of any international standards of human conduct.

Today, amongst allegations of abuse, CNN Bureau reporters spoke at length about the horrors they had witnessed as far back as the immediate post-Gulf War period. One reporter said that "we saw torture and murder on a daily basis, but our gig was too good to give up over a few criminal problems." In the heady days of the early Clinton regime, many journalists felt that an opium pipe and harem of young boys was a just reward for the horrors of the Bush agenda and the unpalatable task of covering a popular war.

In recent days, however, the ante has again risen over human rights and the obligation of observers to come forward with the truth. One reporter stated that "I have never been more burdened than today when I realized that the threat was over and I could tell my story at last." The reporter witnessed countless incidents of torture, rape and murder but stayed silent in order to remain "a credible witness."

In the wake of the recent revelations over American wrong-doing, the international media is being emboldened to come forward and tell of their courageous stories of witnessing the worst kinds of acts of human degredation and being forced to stay silent in order to keep their privelege and postition within the Iraqi regime.

"Thank God Almighty I'm free at last" said one reporter as he wired his latest report one the prisoner abuse stories. "I can really sympathize with the prisoners...you know...since I had to stay cool when Saddam was calling the shots. But now, hey, Bush is the the crosshairs and it is time for payback."

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