Are you all WATCHING 60 Min.????

[lildreamer316]

Come on!!
Rumsfield OUTED the man in the army who blew the whistle on the Abu Ghrab (sp) situation.
Son of a bitch.
That poor man has had to move and he was told by the army he could never go home again.
Friggin' what the F.

[theHandpuppet]

1. Yep -- just saw it

No one can convince me Rummy did that by accident. He KNEW what the consequences would be. Bastard.

BTW, if you've ever been to Cumberland, MD you'd know why the whistleblower fears for his life. No matter how gorgeous the mountain scenery, the atmosphere of that place gives me the creeps.

[NewJeffCT]

2. Rummy was supposedly the ultimate micro-manager

I don't think anything happened by accident under his watch.

[montanacowboy]

7. Yep...it's kind of Deliverance Like...

I know what you mean

[Stargazer09]

3. My husband told me about it

As two members of the military, he and I are outraged by all of that. Not only has the guy been "outed," the local VFW president called the whistleblower a "traitor."

According to our Laws of Armed Combat training, what happened at Abu Graib was AGAINST our own code of conduct. How does that make the whistleblower a traitor and not a hero?

It's a sick world we live in now.

[Mojorabbit]

8. Do you know the name of the vfw person?

Does he have a contact phone number or email? I'd like to give him a piece of my mind.

[fujiyama]

12. Sounds like the VFW

is a wholly owned subsidiary of the republican party, along with Fox News...

Their comments are not surprising considering they also endorsed Tammy Duckworth's chickenhawk opponent in Il.

[B Calm]

15. As a long standing member of the VFW, I want to know which local

ratted out this hero.

[jackstraw45]

21. http://www.vfwpost1411.org/

Probably a good place to start:

http://www.vfwpost1411.org/

[Stargazer09]

35. I just read the transcripts

And the Commander of that post is the same guy who said that Darby's actions were not acceptable.

My husband qualifies for membership in the VFW, and I used to want him to join, just to meet with some of the older veterans (my husband is a huge history buff, and he loves talking about combat experiences with other vets). Well, thanks to this Colin Engelbach, the VFW will never get our memberships nor our support. Their politics were questionable to us to begin with, and this was the last nail in their coffin, as far as we're concerned.

Disgusting, to say the least.

[MindPilot]

29. If you talk to that freeper whack-job from the VFW

please let us know what transpired.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi Roxi!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Stargazer09]

36. Thank you!

I'm very glad to be here, newyawker99!

:patriot:

[ChazII]

4. 60 minutes is

just starting. Thanks for the information and I will certainly watch tonight.

[Graybeard]

5. Rummy is one cold S.O.B....

...the tortures of Hell await HIM.

[vote 4 democracy]

6. Its like what Kerry did for Vietnam but he had the clout

until he got swiftboated.

[question everything]

9. Unbelievable that the man and his family have to hide

cannot go back home to a military community.

And how courageous he is.

[SeattleGirl]

10. I was stunned by that story. I knew he was getting crap from

people, but I didn't realize how bad it really was for him and his wife. And for the VFW guy to say he is a traitor (or very close to being a traitor) just sickened me.

[Norquist Nemesis]

23. To be fair

the VFW guy said he pretty much agreed with everyone else in the town who have said he's traitor and put the enemy above the troops. :banghead:

Shocks and sickens me as well. It has to be devastating for him and his wife, not to mention a life of constant fear from the friends, family, and neighbors you grew up with.

Utterly unbelievable.

[MindPilot]

28. I think the VFW guy has more than a little responsibility for

"fomenting" that viewpoint. He could've stood up for the whistle-blower, but he did not because HE is the America-hating traitor not the other way around.

[happydreams]

32. I wanna fuck that VFW assholes life UP!!

I was so fucking pissed I didn't get his name.

[okieinpain]

11. yep saw it and no one better not ever talk trash about street gangs

being violent and stupid.

[HughMoran]

13. Just another thing to dislike about Rummy

He is such a loser - his place in history has been cemented though, and it's not good :evil:

[Vidar]

14. What a piece of excrement!

[WinkyDink]

16. Excerpt from article herein:

Colin Engelbach, commander of Cumberland’s Henry Hart Post 1411 Veterans of Foreign Wars said he heard some local residents call Darby a rat and a traitor. Engelbach also appears on the “60 Minutes” broadcast.

“These were people who knew me since I was born ... my parents’ friends, my grandparents’ friends, that turned against me,” Darby said.

“I agree that his actions ... were no good and borderline traitor,” Engelbach said. He said that he understands Darby was reporting a crime. “But do you put the enemy above your buddies? I wouldn’t,” Engelbach said.

http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_343090526.html

[thingfisher]

34. This seems to be symptomatic of the military veteran mindset.

I can under stand the sense of bonding that occurs among men in battle and the solidarity it breeds. What is so disturbing is the knee jerk defense of anything anyone in uniform may do as long as it is done in uniform. To declare a fellow soldier a traitor for exposing wrong doing (mistreating the enemy) unmasks a false loyalty that would be more appropriate for the mafia than for the US Army.

[Vinca]

17. That was an outrageous piece.

The poor guy is a hero. What the hell is wrong with that town and its people?

[spanone]

It all goes back to mr. bush* being such a Uniter and Not a Divider.

doing a heck of a job there georgie. you fuckbrain.

[spanone]

19. It all goes back to mr. bush* being such a Uniter and Not a Divider.

doing a heck of a job there georgie. you fuckbrain.

[jackstraw45]

20. Cumberland, Maryland

What a freakish place to call "home"

[Norquist Nemesis]

22. Someone explain to me how what he did was

"putting the enemy first" or above his fellow soldiers, please! That is what the VFW guy said is the way others feel (and he agrees, apparently). I just simply don't get it how people who have turned against him have this reasoning.

It's the same mentality that accuses anyone who criticizes US policy as part of the "Blame America First" crowd.

[Joe Chi Minh]

24. Could be he'd be viewed as a hero if he went back now.

Though you'd know he'd be likely to be set upon by neocon thugs posing as regular soldiers.

[CoffeeCat]

25. The man who exposed Abu Graib is a traitor...

...just as those who exposed the Nazi concentration camps were traitors to Germany.

The United States, like Germany during WW2--has lost its way. If a government becomes
infected with sinister policies--then being a "traitor" to those perversions is not
only courageous, it's essential for a healthy democracy.

Those who are "traitors" to our current, morally repugnant, evil administration are heroes. They
are courageous patriots to stand up to this vile administration--that bullies anyone who dares
to speak out against its crimes.

This administration has nothing to do with freedom, peace or the patriotic ideals on which our founding
fathers built this country. BushCo is a cancer on the body politic.

[happydreams]

31. We need to blast some e-mails to the VFW motherfucker!!

Goddamn that bastard pissed me off. I wanted to get in his fuckface in a big way.

[sabra]

26. and Rummy got away with it because an article in "The New Yorker" revealed Darby's role

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/07/60minutes/main2238188_page2.shtml

<snip>

Weeks later, the guards under investigation were removed and Darby could finally sleep without a gun under his pillow. The suspects were gone, and his name was still secret.

Several months later, 60 Minutes II broke the story of the pictures. An article in "The New Yorker" revealed Darby's role, though no one in Iraq seemed to notice.

But then, while Darby was having lunch in the mess hall watching Donald Rumsfeld testify before Congress about Abu Ghraib, the defense secretary said, "There are many who did their duty professionally and we should mention that as well. First, Specialist Joseph Darby, who alerted appropriate authorities that abuses were occurring."

"I just stopped in mid bite. I was eating and I just stopped. What the hell just happened? Now the anxiety came back. Now, I'm worried," Darby remembers. "Everyone in the unit knew within four hours."

[IronLionZion]

27. More than killing this poor soldier, Rummy wanted to scare future whistleblowers

At least the good Specialist Darby managed to get the JFK profile in courage award.

He didn't actually grow up in MD, that's just where he was posted for the Army. He grew up in Jenners, PA which is only about 10 minutes away from where I grew up. And that's deep in the heart of John Murtha's district (it was then, but it's been gerrymandered out now). So I don't know how the conservative Democratic coal miners would have treated him back home but the wealthier conservative Republicans in Somerset were gathering their torches and pitchforks and looking for blood when poor Joe was outed. I hope the poor guy has found a safe place for his family by now.


http://www.beliefnet.com/story/157/story_15721_1.html

[happydreams]

30. I saw that! Rumsfeld, that dirty rotten, fucking

nasty son of a lying bastard!! OH fuck was I pissed. This was out of malice. :mad:

I am a veteran and know how goddamn hard it is to call the actions of others in your midst into question. I got my ass in a sling while stationed at GTMO years ago for reporting some shit done by a superior officer. I was basically told to shut the fuck up, harrassed and "put in a box" (reassigned). I saw a guy go to jail in a "Fall Guy" operation.

This enlisted man is a hero. The shit that happened to him cannot be undone.

Who was that Veteran's of Foreign Wars puke who thought Darby was a traitor?

I want to e-mail him and unload some serious anger.

It was good to see he got recognition from Ted Kennedy

[jelly]

37. Me too, I got the impression Rumsfeld knew exactly what he was doing.

What was interesting to me is that 60 minutes presented the story of the "outing" in a fairly neutral manner, never explicitly suggesting Rumsfeld did it intentionally to harm Darby. The part of me that wants to believe in the goodness of journalists thinks the folks at 60 minutes saw malicious intent every bit as much as we did, and respected us enough to figure it out for ourselves, rather than hammer the point home. A more cynical part of me wonders whether they were too afraid to suggest it.

Evil bastard. That VFW president they interviewed saying dumbass things like how Darby was a traitor and should have protected his buddies was not much better. I'm glad they interviewed him though because now all can see the ignorance and hatred that Darby is up against. The guy is a hero, plain and simple.

[Ilsa]

33. I heard him out him when he testified to Senate on TV. Pissed me off

then. I think we had a DU thread on it. Rumsfeld knew exactly what he was doing, outing the poor guy. I hope the man gets a new name and moves next door to Rummy and plays loud music directed at Rummy all night.

[jelly]

38. I missed the hearings. But I wonder

how did you guys realize the significance of Rumsfeld's act? From the 60 minutes show we learned that until the moment that Rumsfeld outted him, Darby's identity as informant was kept secret from the military people involved in the scandal. But was it public knowledge that his name had been kept a secret from people at that level? If I would have had to guess back then I would have thought that the information was only being withheld from the public.

[Ilsa]

39. I didn't know if the military had kept it a secret, but I was thinking that

if Darby had been protected, it was all over with Rummy's comment which seemed a bit out of place when he said it. It was like an almost stray comment that barely belonged and didn't need to be said, but Rumsferatu wanted his revenge. It was more of an intuitive moment for me.

[jelly]

40. Well then your intuition was right on target! nt