I may die with these blood stains on my hands.

"Out, out, damn spot!”

Spc. Joseph Darby Under Protective Military Custody

You know, he’s the guy who blew the whistle on the anarchy at Abu Ghraib prison. His family says the military protection is necessary because Darby is under threat of death by members of the communities in which he lives. I suppose that must mean, both civilian and military American communities.

I find it hard to stomach that people with any intelligence believe that the murder, sexual abuse, and torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib was acceptable, and that Darby is a traitor for reporting the abuse. Hundreds, no thousands of pictures testify to the atrocities committed, and the abuse was instigated by military intelligence officers, which implicates the complicity of higher authorities.

As a member of this society I am so ashamed! Have I lived my life with my eyes closed? Have I been so self centered as to avoid seeing the evil around me?

Yes, I am still in despair over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal! I can not get it out of my mind. These people used my sexuality as a device to torture Iraqi’s and that makes me angrier than I can say. That the torture was apparently military policy and extended to prisons in Afghanistan compounds my ire.

I am indignant! I am sad, and I will not be healed until I see justice. I will not feel safe in this country until this evil has been traced to its source, and the festering rot removed!

However, I am old, and I know these things take time. I hope I live to see the surgical procedure finished properly.