"If Phil Anselmo hadn't quit PANTERA, Darrell wouldn't have been playing in that shithole where that guy could get to him." That is but one of the many startling and revealing statements about "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott that his girlfriend of 20 years, Rita Haney, makes in the March 2008 issue of Guitar World magazine.

In a lengthy and exclusive interview conducted almost three years to the day after Dimebag's death on December 8, 2004, Haney gives Guitar World readers a revealing look inside the heart and soul of metal's lost cowboy from hell and offers some lacerating criticism of his former bandmates DAMAGEPLAN singer Pat Lachman and Anselmo.

With regards to Dimebag's final days on the road with DAMAGEPLAN, the band he and Vinnie formed following PANTERA's breakup, Haney says, "I remember in his final days, Darrell was calling me a lot and he told me that he didn't know what to do about [vocalist] Pat Lachman. Pat said that he didn't want to sing any PANTERA songs, but he knew what he was getting into when he joined the band. It got to the point where Darrell blew up completely. He said, 'Look, if I want a dickhead for a singer I'll call up Phil Anselmo! I can at least make money with that motherfucker.' "

And in one of the interview's most incendiary moments, she unleashes her verdict on Phil Anselmo and how his drug addictions and actions ultimately led to Dimebag's murder in Columbus, Ohio, at the hands of deranged gunman Nathan Gale.

"The bottom line is Phil's actions led to what happened," Haney says. "The guy wouldn't have been after Vinnie and Darrell if PANTERA had not broken up. It was all due to Phil's stupid, stupid actions."

For more on this story, visit www.guitarworld.com. To read the complete interview, pick up the March 2008 issue of Guitar World, on sale January 15.