Joe Darby was a sergeant serving with the 372nd Military Police Company at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and blew the whistle on torture and inhumane treatment of the prisoners there.
In 2004, he sent an anonymous message and a photo disc to Army higher-ups; later he revealed that he was the source of these materials. Darby was promised that, since he was providing evidence against his own unit, his name would be kept confidential, but he was outed by none other than Sec. of State Donald Rumsfeld.
As is the case with most informants, Darby was given the cold shoulder by his former friends and threatened bedly enough that he and his wife had to live for a time in protective custody.
He was the first to call attention to the deplorable state of affairs at Abu Ghraib, and the New Yorker magazine was the first publication to run the story, not the tame, cowed, embedded newspaper press.
And as usual, the whole scandal was blamed on a few enlisted men and their immediate supervisors--people who were very likely only following orders from above. The decision to use torture and humiliation no doubt came from very, very near the top of our military's chain of command, but heaven forbid that any such individuals be held accountable.
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