CAPT. IAN FISHBACK

In April 2004, Capt. Ian Fishback watched the Abu Ghraib scandal unfold with a mixture of disbelief and familiarity. A twenty-six-year-old West Point graduate twice awarded the Bronze Star for valor in the war on terror, Fishback knew from personal experience in Iraq and Afghanistan that much of the abuse those infamous photographs exposed was standard practice. "Guys handcuffed naked to cells, guys placed in stress positions on boxes, people stripped naked -- all that was in accordance with interrogation procedures," he recounted.

But Fishback, a by-the-book officer and devout Christian, held his tongue -- until Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disavowed the evidence of torture before Congress, testifying that "the letter of the Geneva Conventions" had been followed in Iraq. "That," Fishback recalled, "is when I had a problem."

The decorated officer tried to work within the chain of command, demanding that the military come clean. But after seventeen months of stonewalling, Fishback finally decided to break ranks. "It is infuriating to me that officers are not lined up to accept responsibility for what happened," he told Human Rights Watch. "That's basic officership, that's what you learn at West Point. It blows my mind."

Based on Fishback's account -- as well as testimony from two unnamed sergeants he recruited to speak out -- the human-rights watchdog issued a horrifying report on the routine abuse of Iraqi detainees. Most alarming is the practice known as "Fucking a PUC" -- a "person under control" -- in which Army cooks wielding Louisville Sluggers were encouraged to let off steam by savagely beating detainees.

Fishback could have chosen to remain anonymous -- "Officer C," as he was named in the report. Instead, he crafted an open letter to Sen. John McCain, himself a former prisoner of war, accusing the top brass of contributing to murder by refusing to set clear guidelines. "If we abandon our ideals in the face of adversity and aggression," he concluded, "then those ideals were never really in our possession."

Fishback's letter sped the passage of McCain's recent amendment banning torture and forced the Pentagon to launch an investigation into the abuses. "I deeply admire his courage in speaking out about the treatment of enemy detainees," McCain tells Rolling Stone. "I have met few people more honorable than this young man."

Infuriated, Rumsfeld reportedly ordered subordinates to go after the lowly captain. "Either break him or destroy him," Rumsfeld was quoted as saying. "And do it quickly." For now, however, Fishback is training to become a member of the elite Special Forces. The challenges of speaking out, he believes, will only make him a better soldier.

"He's one hell of a brave guy," says Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. "For what he did in Washington, he deserves a third Bronze Star."

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