AWOL Soldier Pledges to Wage No More War

by repost

Tue, Mar 16, 2004 10:35AM

Mejia, 28, is the first veteran of the Iraq war to seek conscientious objector status, said Tod Ensign, a lawyer and director of Citizen Soldier, a New York veterans organization. Other soldiers have sought objector status, but did not fight in Iraq, Ensign said.

Published on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 by the Boston Globe
AWOL Soldier Pledges to Wage No More War
by Suzanne Sataline

SHERBORN -- Standing on the grounds of the Peace Abbey yesterday near a statue of Gandhi, Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia said that when he went home on leave last year after fighting in Iraq, he realized he could not return to battle.

Mejia turned himself in later to military authorities at Hanscom Air Force Base, saying he would seek conscientious objector status.

There was no time to contemplate such a decision while in Iraq, he said. In battle, "you're just trying to stay alive."

He never returned to his Florida National Guard unit after a two-week leave in October.

"I am saying no to war," Mejia said at a press conference at the abbey, surrounded by family, friends, and a large contingent of news media, including reporters from other countries. "I went to Iraq and was an instrument of violence, and now I have decided to become an instrument of peace."

For more information: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/03...

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