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Abu Ghraib whistleblower fears for safety of his family
Joe Darby, the United States soldier who exposed the Iraqi prisoner abuse in Abu
Ghraib prison, fears his family might one day face retribution for his
actions.
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Speaking in his first UK broadcast interview on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4's The Choice, to
be broadcast tomorrow at 9.02am and repeated at 9.30pm, US
Military Policeman Joe Darby says he believes one of the soldiers he
helped incarcerate will "bear a grudge until he gets out of prison".
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Talking of when he gave evidence that helped convict several soldiers,
including Charles A Graner Jnr, Joe said: "Seeing Graner across the
court room was the only one that was difficult during the trial. He had a
stone cold stare of hatred the entire time, he wouldn't take his eyes off
me the whole time he sat there. I'm concerned about what Graner's capable
of when he gets out of prison."
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"I think this is a grudge he will hold until the day he gets out of
prison... worries me for my family, not so much for myself. It was
something I accepted when I made the choice to hand the pictures in that
there could be retribution but my concern is for my family, not me."
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After handing over a compact disc of the abuse photographs to the
Criminal Investigation Division of the US Army, Joe says that he slept
with a gun in hand every night because he feared reprisals from the
accused soldiers.
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Despite demanding that he be kept anonymous, Joe's name was revealed to
the American public on live television when then US Secretary of Defence
Donald Rumsfeld thanked Joe Darby by name for handing in the photographs.
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Joe doubts that Rumsfeld made his name public by mistake.
Joe said: "I don't think it was an
accident because those things are pretty much scripted.
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"But I did receive
a letter from him which said he had no malicious intent, he was only
doing it to praise me and he had no idea about my anonymity. I really
find it hard to believe that the Secretary of Defence of the United
States has no idea about the star witness for a criminal case being
anonymous."
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However, once his name had been revealed, Joe said that "90 to 95 per cent of
the soldiers in my unit shook my hand. It was back home where the
backlash started."
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Joe said there was a lot of animosity towards him and his family.
Initially his wife fled to her sister's house which was vandalised with
graffiti and both were later placed under protection.
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Joe said: "We had to leave everything we had behind and the choice forced
us to start over somewhere else, to find new jobs and start a new life.
We've moved to a new place, we've done everything but change our
identities."
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"I knew that some people wouldn't agree with what I did. You have some
people who don't view it as right and wrong... they view it as – I put
American soldiers in prison over Iraqis."
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Once reunited with his family, a Lieutenant Colonel asked him where he
wanted to go, and Joe replied "home".
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Joe said the Lieutenant Colonel's response made him realise just what his
actions were going to cost him and his family when the officer said: "You
don't understand son. You can't go home, you'll never be able to go
home."
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The US Army carried out a security assessment in Joe's hometown to find
out whether or not he was at risk.
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"They sent plain clothes investigators to snoop around and find what they
could and after six days they returned a finding I was in imminent danger
of bodily harm or death to return there [Joe's home town]," Joe
explained.
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Initially Joe and his family had to live under armed protection.
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Joe said: "For the first six months we couldn't move without an armed
guard. If we went grocery shopping, I had two armed security officers
with me, if we went to a restaurant we were armed, if I went to the gym
to work out, I had an armed guard with me all times."
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But despite all the difficulties as a result of Joe's decision to hand
over the photographs to the authorities, he is adamant he would do it all
again and he just sees himself as "a soldier who did his job, no more, no
less".
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"I've never regretted for one second what I did when I was in Iraq, to
turn those pictures in. I've re-thought at times about the method I used."
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Notes to Editors
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Use of any part of the above release must incorporate a credit for ´óÏó´«Ã½
Radio 4's The Choice, Tuesday 7 August 2007, 9.02am, repeated at 9.30pm.
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Photographs of Joe Darby and presenter Michael Buerk, and a full
transcript, are available.
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Radio 4 Publicity
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