Joe Darby
{{Short description|Whistleblower in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal}}
{{redirect|Joseph Darby|the English jumper|Joseph Darby (jumper)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Joseph M. Darby
|birth_date=June 23, 1979
|death_date=
|birth_place=Cumberland, Maryland
|death_place=
|placeofburial=
|placeofburial_label= Place of burial
|image=
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flagu|United States|1960}}
|branch={{Army|United States}}
|serviceyears=1996–2006
|rank={{Dodseal|USAE5}} Sergeant
|commands=
|unit=372nd Military Police Company
|battles=Iraq War
|awards=
|laterwork=
}}
Sergeant Joseph M. Darby (born c. 1979) is a former U.S. Army reservist known as the whistleblower in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. Darby is a graduate of North Star High School, near his hometown at the time, Jenners, Pennsylvania.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160415220303/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-180342.html "One Soldier's Unlikely Act; Family Fears for Man Who Reported Iraqi Prisoner Abuse" Washington Post.] May 6, 2004.
At the time, Darby served as an M.P. at the Abu Ghraib prison, in Abu Ghraib, Iraq. After learning of the abuse, Darby was the first person to take steps to alert the U.S. military command.
Disclosure of abuses at Abu Ghraib
{{See also|Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse}}
In January 2004, Darby provided two CD-ROMs of photographs to Special Agent Tyler Pieron of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, who was stationed at Abu Ghraib Prison, triggering an investigation that led to the implication of several soldiers violating the Geneva Convention. Darby initially wanted to remain anonymous, and had been assured of anonymity[https://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/03/am-i-a-torturer.html Am I a Torturer? (Mother Jones)] — he and those implicated all served in the 372nd Military Police Company, but became known when The New Yorker published his name and when later Donald Rumsfeld named him during a Senate hearing.{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32048-2004May16.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=When Joseph Comes Marching Home | date=May 17, 2004 | accessdate=May 6, 2010}}[http://unbossed.com/?p=870 unbossed.com » Thank You, Joseph Darby] This led to harassment and death threats against him and his family, resulting in them being taken into protective custody by the U.S. Army.{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=John |title=A Toast to the Bravery and Sacrifice of Whistleblowers |website=HuffPost }} Darby had agonized for a month beforehand, but finally decided to blow the whistle on his former friends explaining: "It violated everything I personally believed in and all I'd been taught about the rules of war." He had known Lynndie England, one of the most well-known suspects, since Basic Training. He testified that he had received the photos from Charles Graner, another soldier in the photographs.
=Reactions=
The disclosure was not received well by the community in which Darby and his wife, Bernadette, were living in Maryland. They have been shunned by friends and neighbors, their property has been vandalized, and they now reside in protective military custody at an undisclosed location. Bernadette said, "We did not receive the response I thought we would. People were, they were mean, saying he was a walking dead man, he was walking around with a bull's-eye on his head. It was scary."[https://web.archive.org/web/20040818013511/https://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/World/Darby_Prison_Abuse_040816-1.html Reality check – ABC News, 16 August 2004]
On the other hand, CBS reports that former neighbors from one of his childhood homes in Pennsylvania were proud of him.{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/praise-for-iraq-whistleblower/ | work=CBS News | title=Praise For Iraq Whistleblower | date=May 10, 2004}} Darby has also said that soldiers in his unit shook his hand afterward.{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6930197.stm
|title=The Abu Ghraib whistleblower's ordeal
|author=Dawn Bryan
|date=August 5, 2007
|publisher=BBC News
|accessdate=August 5, 2007}}
=Recognition=
On May 7, 2004, Darby was profiled as the "Person of the Week" by anchor Peter Jennings on ABC's World News Tonight, and in December 2004, he was selected as one of three ABC News "People of the Year". He was profiled and interviewed by Anderson Cooper on the December 10, 2006, broadcast of 60 Minutes (the segment was aired again on June 24, 2007).
Darby received a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on May 16, 2005, in recognition of his courage in exposing the abuses at Abu Ghraib.{{cite web|title=Joseph Darby – JFK Presidential Library & Museum|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Events-and-Awards/Profile-in-Courage-Award/Award-Recipients/Joseph-Darby-2005.aspx|accessdate=April 17, 2012}}
Darby also received a personal letter from Donald Rumsfeld, asking him to stop talking about how his identity had been disclosed by Rumsfeld despite receiving assurances of anonymity from military command.
See also
- Ronald Ridenhour (alerted authorities to the My Lai massacre)
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.jfklibrary.org/Education+and+Public+Programs/Profile+in+Courage+Award/Award+Recipients/Joseph+Darby/Acceptance+Speech+by+Sergeant+Joseph+Darby.htm Acceptance speech by Sergeant Joseph Darby. 2005 Profile in Courage Award, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323040154/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Education+and+Public+Programs/Profile+in+Courage+Award/Award+Recipients/Joseph+Darby/Acceptance+Speech+by+Sergeant+Joseph+Darby.htm |date= March 23, 2009 }}
- [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/157/story_15721_1.html#cont Beliefnet.com – Most Inspiring Person of 2004]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060823173022/http://www.thankyoujoedarby.com/ Photos and letters of support for Joseph Darby (also includes correspondence from Darby)]
News clips
- [https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=131827&page=1 ABC News – Person of the Week Story – May 7, 2004]
- [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32048-2004May16.html Washington Post – When Joseph Comes Marching Home – May 16, 2004]
- [https://archive.today/20130119033321/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/07/60minutes/main2238188.shtml 60 Minutes – Exposing the Truth of Abu Ghraib]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061111012300/http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_4785 GQ – Prisoner of Conscience, interview of Joseph Darby]
- [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5651609 NPR – Abu Ghraib Whistleblower Speaks Out]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6930197.stm BBC News – The Abu Ghraib whistleblower's ordeal]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darby, Joe}}
Category:Military personnel from Cumberland, Maryland
Category:People from Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:United States military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison