"It violated everything I personally believed in and all I'd been taught about the rules of war." -- Sergeant Joseph Darby
In January 2004, Sergeant Joseph Darby, found himself in a conundrum that none of us can really understand without having experienced. Darby, then a 24-year-old Army Reservist serving at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, had uncovered information and let his conscience be his guide.
Darby was a member of the 372nd Military Police Company, the unit in charge of guarding prisoners at Abu Ghraib. When Darby learned of the abuse taking place against Iraqi prisoners, he was torn between loyalty to his fellow soldiers and horror that they seemed capable of torture.
The soldier who triggered the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal by sending incriminating photos to military investigators says he feared deadly retribution by other soldiers, and was shocked when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld mentioned his name in a Senate hearing.
"I had the choice between what I knew was morally right, and my loyalty to other soldiers. I couldn't have it both ways," Darby says in the September [2004] issue of GQ magazine.
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