Exposing The Truth Of Abu Ghraib
Anderson Cooper Interviews Whistleblower Joe Darby
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Video
The Abu Ghraib Whistleblower
In Full: Joe Darby, the man who first exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, tells CNN's Anderson Cooper he faced hostility and lived in fear after blowing the whistle on his fellow soldiers.
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Video
Joe Darby's 'Homecoming'
Abu Ghraib whistleblower Joe Darby tells Anderson Cooper how he was told by the U.S. Army that he could not return to his Maryland home because the military felt it was not "safe" for him there.
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Joe Darby, speaking with Anderson Cooper (CBS)
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Photo Essay
Prisoner Photos
Photos reveal more details of prisoner abuse. (Viewer Discretion)
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Photo Essay
Inside Abu Ghraib
A look at the Iraqi prison that is at the heart of an abuse scandal involving U.S. soldiers.
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Abuse At Abu Ghraib
Investigation timeline, the chain of command, POW rules, global mistreatment of prisoners and video reports.
You may not remember the name Joe Darby, but you remember the impact of what he did. Darby turned in the pictures of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq – pictures he had discovered purely by accident. Unfortunately for Darby, exposing the truth has changed his life forever, and for the worse.
60 Minutes first broadcast this story last December, the story of an ordinary Joe who grew up in Appalachia and signed up to be an MP in the Army Reserves. As CNN's Anderson Cooper reports, Darby's local unit was sent to Abu Ghraib where he worked in the office while others guarded the prisoners.
And then one day, when Joe Darby wanted scenic pictures to send home, he spotted the unit's camera buff, prison guard Charles Graner.
"So I walked up to Graner and I, you know, 'Hey do you have any pictures?' And he said 'Yeah, yeah, hold on.' Reaches into his computer bag and pulls out two CDs and just hands them to me," Darby remembers.
Asked if he thinks Graner realized what was on these discs, Darby says, "I don't think he realized what was on, but I don't think it would have mattered either way. I knew Graner and Graner trusted me."
That trust was about to change Darby's life forever. He copied Graner's discs and gave him back the originals. Later, when Darby looked at the photos he first saw scenic shots of Iraq, but then he came upon the pictures that launched the scandal. One of the first shots was a photo of a pyramid of naked Iraqis.
"I didn't realize it was Iraqis at first, you know? 'Cause we lived in prison cells too," Darby says.
At first, Darby thought the pictures were maybe of American soldiers goofing off.
"I laughed. I looked at it and I laughed. And then the next photo was of Graner and England standing behind them. And I was like, 'Wait a minute. This is the prison. These are prisoners.' And then it kind of sunk in that they were doing this to prisoners. This was people being forced to do this," Darby recalls.
Forced, Darby said, by Graner, who he called the ring leader.
Asked what Charles Graner was like, Darby says, "If you were around him long enough you saw that he had a dark side, a morbid side."
And a sadistic side, according to Darby, who told 60 Minutes Graner directed the abusive posing and picture taking during his night shift when he and his buddies were alone with the prisoners.
What was going through his mind when he clicked through the photos?
"Disbelief," Darby says. "I tried to think of a reason why they would do this, you know."
"Well there's some who say, 'Look, this is a valuable interrogation tool,'" Cooper remarks.
"These were MPs. Our job wasn't to interrogate prisoners," Darby says.
"There has been testimony that some of the MPs were told to soften the prisoners up, that this was part of that," Cooper says.
"And I've heard that. And I wasn't there. I didn't work the tier. I can't say that that didn't happen," Darby replies.
But no matter why they were doing it, Darby knew what they were doing was wrong.
"I've always had a moral sense of right and wrong. And I knew that you know, friends or not, it had to stop," Darby says.
Produced By Robert Anderson and Casey Morgan
©MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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See all 269 CommentsHe shouldn't be going through this, but does he expect Anderson Cooper to watch over him at night?
Putting panties on a man%u2019s head is torture? Are you kidding? The enemy cuts the heads of civilians and at least one known soldier, they burn people alive while begging for mercy. That you stupid morans is torture.
All this man did was bring the realities of war to the Military hating media who was all too willing to make this into something it was not. Several times the media has been caught lieing or exagerating.
I truly believe that this self-serving ignorant Man thought only of himself and how he could look like a hero in the eyes of the media. I%u2019m confident of this because he could have used his chain of command instead of using the media. How do we know he wasn%u2019t involved and taking the pictures.
Darby's actions did no such thing. The only ones who put the troop's in harm's way were the ones who engaged in the torture.
Referring to Nazi and Soviet death camps is erroneus. In that respect, we can justify all sorts of humanitarian violations and torture - because someone else did something worse. With that mindset, we can easily be lead to a state of lawlessness, with no accountability for any crime.
Furthermore, be-headings or not, I do not recall a single Iraqi arrested for the be-heading of anyone - why? - because we don't know who they are. The state of chaos in Iraq permits any Iraqi who doesn't like their neighbor, to tell the troops "he's a terrorist" and it is a sufficient pretext for them to be thrown in Abu Ghraib.
The posters apathetic to the torture and humiliation, sit comfortably at their computer, spewing characterizations of - "traitor" - but rest assured, if it was their relative, their family member who endured that torture - Darby would be the kind and moral objector.
As Americans, we should be held to the HIGHEST standard. do the terrorists do things worse than what we did at Abu Graib? Yes. But what argument are all of you trying to make? That we should do things as barbaric as what they do? That we should lower ourselves to their level? Then what's the difference between us and them?
Some of you posters may think you are the proud patriot, but the vile you project shows your true selves. You should be ashamed.
http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/pictures033104.html
The media put our troop and citizens in harms way worldwide.
Quit whining about a fool. He deserve whatever happens to him.
And any idiot who says we have to be held to a higher standard better just surrender now. When only one side plays by the rules, that side can expect to lose. The enemy deserves NO better treatment than they give us.
Finally, this guy is flat out lying. If he slept every night with a pistol under his pillow, cocked, with his hand on it, like he said, he'd be dead right now. He would have blown off his own head in his sleep, and anyone who knows anything about firearms or firearm safety knows that. And if he's lying about that, what else is he lying about?
As a former state corrections officer, I was appalled. Like everyone else of the photographs that were shown around the world on how United States military personnel treated prisoners. Those individuals who were later to be found guilty for what they did will live for the rest of our lives, knowing what they did was wrong and what Joe Darby did a was correct.
It is a travesty, as well as shame, his hometown did not support his action and in some cases, the Army did not support what he did.
What Joe Darby was show a lack of training by the United States Army on how to deal with prisoners. Those individuals found guilty of for what they did or not trained to be corrections officers. Did United States Army know this? Sure they did. Army intelligence one at some people who follow orders without question so they can interrogate the individuals without any repercussions.
The Army intelligence gather information from those prisoners? Will never know. Would the photographs released to embarrass President George Bush? To some yes, and that's without question.
FROM OUT LEFT FIELD AND BORN AGAIN LIBERALS..THE GUY WAS A SET UP AND GAVE THE PICS DIRECTLY TO THE PRESS,KNOWING *** WELL HE WOULD MAKE THE TALK SHOWS AND BOOK WRITERS EVNTUALLY, WHICH HE HAS, AND WON'T HAVE TO WORK ANY MORE.HE'LL BE A MILLIONAIRE AND IN A COUPLE OF YEARS, THIS ALL PASSES AND HE AND HIS FAMILY ARE ON EASY STREET FOREVER....
If you disagree with these statements, then you should not advocate U.S. soldiers performing these acts on other humans.
I can think of several so called journalists who deserve the same fate. The left-stream media is complicit in these acts of cowardice and betrayal. How many additional soldiers have died because of their reckless reporting. Certain aspects of any war should be off limits to the media.
I spit on you Mr Darby.
I am sure that Alferd Agnew,Quincy Collins,Bud Day, Jeremiah Denton,Alan Kroboth,Henry Lesesne,Glen Myers,James Risner,James Stockdale,and Lance Sijan would have prefered Abu Ghraib Prison humiliation to that of the Blue Room (Hoa Lo Prison) interrogation where Americans POW's were interrogated and tortured for many years.
Where are the Europeans,CBS, The International Red Cross,kentebe,Canada,Joe Darby, Anderson Cooper about the War Crimes committed by Vietnamese officials who had violated the Geneva Conventionat the Hanoi Hilton(Hoa Lo Prison)?
When will CBS, The International Red Cross,kentebe,Canada,Joe Darby, Anderson Cooper,and the Europeans bring the Vietnamese Officials and Officers who had violated the Geneva Convention and committed War Crimes against the Americans Prisoners of War be brought to justice?
Talk about no good deed going unpunished!!!
Bush should be the one to go into hiding for the horror in Iraq he made happen and take Rummy, Cheney and Rove with him.
I am left to wonder how it is possible that any of you who agree with or have said any of the above are capable of realizing just how moronic, as in idiotic, illogical, devoid of substantial intellect, you really are.
First, an most important - while I would support the assessment that there were rarely any charges or witnesses to crimes committed by the AG prisoners, I would also have to support that the MP's probably made the best possible good-faith efforts to ensure that they were populating the prison with actual criminals.
That being said, those of you idiots described above seem to be selecting the lesser crimes of the abuse, and it speaks absolute VOLUMES about what 'you' would do when friends of yours blatantly broke the law; you'd rationalize it was ok for your best friend to be a serial rapist because, well, he's your best friend.
I can hear the protest now - 'there's a huge difference between raping and making prisoners strip and get on all fours!' It's funny that your memory is so selective as to forget just how many men had broom and mop handles shoved up their ***' as part of this 'humiliation'. Is anyone in the US really so selective as to suggest that 'that' isn't rape because it wasn't an actual ***?
So you go into Iraq to stop atrocities and cover up what your own armed forces do, America you have just shown that you are just as corrupt as Iraq, and for the first time in all this I feel disgusted that America is in Iraq pretending to do good... NO atrocities should be allowed no matter if it is done by our own or theirs,,, I am glad I live in Australia and hope our men don't follow the example of America...I will now go and read some of the other replies and hope that I don't get more disillusioned...
What Joe Darby did was right. What the media did with that is another embarassing story.
Why do I find it ironic? Because the Abu Ghraib abuse photos were first made public in April, 2004 -- and because the first instances of people being taken hostage and beheaded didn't occur until May 2004.
So, what's my point? Simply this: If the prisoners at Abu Ghraib weren't abused and tortured, there's a good chance the beheadings wouldn't have happened.
Remember, people -- we're supposed to be the good guys in this fight. We're supposed to act better than this. We're supposed to set an example for the rest of the world to follow.
The fact that Rumsfeld revealed Darby as the whistleblower makes me dislike Rumsfeld even more.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
"He may indeed become rich because of his anti-American actions..."
Darby's actions were not "anti-American".
Those whose actions were/are "anti-American" are more than likely the same ones that you support - like Rumsfeld, Bush, Miller, Sanchez and Pappas.
The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of those held at Abu Ghraib weren't guilty of any crimes.
Karpinsky wrote:
"They came from raids of homes or other meeting places; thousands of people just swooped up and brought in. ..When the Soldiers conducting the raids arrived at the specified location, they usually did not have enough information to identify the target individual(s) so they arrested everybody at the location, sometimes more than a few hundred individuals apprehended during one raid. They were told the interrogators would sort it out and identify the target individuals."
Well said.
Abu Ghraib abuse photos given to the media was wrong. The people who did both were wrong and should be held to account for their actions.
Both disgraced the military and the American citizens.
Blaming Bush , Rove or anyone else is like blaming the School Board for truancy.
A soldier is duty-bound to NOT obey any order he believes to be inhumane or unjust. He will do so at the peril of his/her career as it should be.
Few americans know what torture is.
Torture is what was happening under saddam before we went to Iraq.Cutting off arms, legs, cutting out tongues throwing people off buildings, putting people alive through shredders. Get a grip people.
Most posters here forget, the bulk of the people imprisoned at Abu Ghraib were guilty of nothing. They also forget that the story had actually been broken to the media long before the photos came out. Do you remember when you first heard of the story? When there were pictures, right? Because without photographic evidence, nobody cared and nothing was done. Look it up - nothing was done until the photos came out.
The guy is a snitch and deserves whatever happens to him.
He had many options in his line of command, but he decided to go to the Media. War is hell, and the enemy we are fighting wants to KILL US!!! This enemy beheads, burns and wants nothing less than to destroy us and some of you just don't get it. If we don't defeat this enemy then you can kiss your liberal butts goodbye! Wakeup up and smell the Jihad!!!!!!!!
But I do strongly believe that a country that can't find those men is doomed. The fact that we can find them is one reason why I say there is no failure in Iraq.
Quite true bushrocks. We still "find" men and women who love their country and who believe in her that will serve her. My husband served for 29 years 2 tours in Vietnam.
I agree...Iraq is not a failure although there will be failures along the way.
Abuse at Abu Ghraib was a failure. Abu Ghraib was a failure in command and leadership because many who have those responsibilities have never seen war, and never had to make a hard decision in their lives.
Abuse at Abu Ghraib was because some of those who were charged with the care of prisoners come from a generation who have never had to take care of themselves much less anyone else . They have grown up with nothing more to do than entertain themselves with video games and gladly except violence as normal fare as evidenced by the music and movies they choose.
Are there a few bad apples, of course but there are many, many more who looked at the Towers and the 3000 who died and stepped up to the plate to defend this country from any and all enemies.
Anyone wishing to read what an Iraqi feels about the war may want to check out Iraq The Model. (goggle)
A reality check may help some understand that nothing is perfect including people. If things were perfect there would be NO war, would there?
Some of you all don't get it. The word "Traitor" in this conversation has been abused. Many of you have no idea what really happened, except what was seen in those photos. Later we would find out the military personnel were acting on orders from military intelligence people that were at that prison, trying to get information from those individuals. Darby knew what was happening. To him. It was wrong. The chain of command failed him. In fact there may have been two chain of commands that failed him..
Now, because of what happen any future American soldier, sailor, airman and Marine will be subjugated by our future enemies. Based upon what happened at that prison. Hopefully, what has happened to those soldiers that were there and prosecuted by our law. Our future enemies will not do what those soldiers did to those prisoners.
If our soldiers would not have been prosecuted by our laws and gotten away with it future American servicemen and women will be subjugated under the same treatment as what happened at that prison.
Mr. Darby was correct in what he did. If I had my own place out in the middle of nowhere I would be more than happy to invite his family to stay until everything calms down.
Then you are saying the Bataan march and Bataan death camp...Never happened !
You are saying that the over 2000 men that were tortured and died, and are still unrecovered, as prisoners of war North Korea ...never happened ?
You think the POW camps in Vietnam ... Camp 1 POW Camp Changsong; Camp 2 POW Camp Pyoktong; Camp 3 POW Camp Changsong; Camp 4 POW Camp Pyoktong; Camp 5 POW Camp Pyoktong ... where the conditions in the camps were deplorable; there was very little food and water. Many Americans died at the camps from dysentery, Beriberi, Starvation, beating's , cold injuries, worms, and maggots , and lung problems with no medical attention ..did not happen.?
Through all of these wars and including the Iraq War the US has treated POWS well. Have there been some cases of abuse.. I am sure there have been.
It is NOT a matter of policy and no one has ever needed a reason to treat Americans cruelly. Cruel has been the nature of the enemy, in most cases that was why we were fighting.
Yes, soldiers who cross the line and mistreat their charges must be prosecuted.
Mr. Darby has shamed himself, his fellow servicemen, and his country.
There were procedures for Mr. Darby, he was sworn to uphold. He did not but then they would have brought him neither the money or the notoriety that going to the media has.
Anyone have 30 pieces of silver?
I have heard all the reasons why Mr. Darby should be considered a traitor, but none of it justifies the abuse he has had to endure. No Matter what anyone thinks about what he did, there is no excuse for anyone to intimidate his family. I wish our government had the moral scruples that Joe Darby demonstrated by exposing these atrocities.
Furthermore, just because some of us do not agree that Joe is a traitor, does not mean we condone the murder and torture of our soldiers by anyone. It appears that many of the supporters of this debacle in Iraq can't seem to understand that. For them it is either you agree with us or you are wrong; there are no gray areas in their thinking. I cringe to think about what other illegal and immoral activities will remain hidden because there are no Joe Darbys to expose them.
He should of thought of the ramifications before he decided to open his big trap!!
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