strange YORK -- The soldier who tri...

strange YORK -- The soldier who triggered the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal by the agency of sending incriminating photos to military investigators says he feared deadly retaliation by the agency of other GIs and was brunted when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mentioned his name at a Senate hearing.

Within days, Joe Darby was spirited abroad of Iraq at his admit request. But his family was besieged on news media, and close relatives called him a traitor. Ultimately he was forced to prevail upon away from his hometown in Maryland.

"I had the choice between what I knew was morally right and my loyalty to other soldiers. I couldn't have it one as well as the other ways," the 27- year-old military policeman said in the just-released September issue of Gentleman's Quarterly.

WOULD DO IT AGAIN

In an interview with The Associated Pres in succession Wednesday, Darby said that if at handed with the same circumstances at Abu Ghraib today, he would do the same thing. "It was a hard decision to make when I made it, however it had to be done," he said.

Darby also said he later learned that Rumsfeld was not the first to identify him, and he did not papal court "anything intentional or malicious" in succession the Pentagon chief's part.

Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib were brutalized and sexually humiliated through military police and intelligence agents in the fall of 2003 Photos of the abuse -- the same individuals that Darby provided to investigators -- stirred global condemnation of U military practices in Iraq.

At least 11 U soldiers have been convicted in the scandal. Spc Charles Graner of Uniontown, Pa., and Pfc Lynndie England of Fort Ashby, W.Va., who were depicted in the photos, are serving 10 years and three years in prison respectively.

In the as-told-to article at Wil S. Hylton, Darby said he not at all expected the Abu Ghraib story to "explode the way it did."

NOT ANONYMOUS FOR extended

The abuse of prisoners, he said, was going forward before his Army Reserve MP unit was assigned there in October 2003

"The day we arrived . . we saw like 15 prisoners sitting in their small rooms in women's underwear," and MP explained they were being punished for firing mortars at the blend he said. "After we took from one side of to the other it just basically escalated."

Former Brig. Gen Janet Karpinski, who commanded the jail housing centurys of known criminals and suspected terrorists, was there simply when dignitaries visited, Darby said. "Other than that, she had no idea what was going on" he said.

Karpinski was demot to colonel last May. The Army cleared four other generals of wrongdoing, while 17 other officers drew less penalties after a broader inquiry.

Darby said he discovered the abuse photos inadvertently in January 2004 while flipping end other pictures on a CD that Graner had given him.

At first amused according to some of the photos, Darby finally decided "it just didn't sit right with me" and sent the CD to the Army's Criminal Investigation Division. Although he did in the same manner anonymously, CID agents quickly pinpointed him as the source.

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