November 17th, 2005: Courage to Resist reports that as thousands gathered at Fort Benning in Georgia today to call for the closure of the notorious School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC), Army National Guard Specialist Katherine Jashinski publicly announced her refusal to be deployed to the Middle East. She said that she had come to a point where she felt that she was being forced to choose between her "legal obligation to the Army and (her) deepest moral values." She chose to honor her beliefs. She said that as a result of her travels and experiences in the military, she came to believe that taking human life was wrong and war was no exception. She said that while she goes through an appeal of the rejection of her application for conscientious objector (CO) status, she will continue to follow orders that do not conflict with her conscience.

Jashinski, who is 22 years old, is the first woman in the military to publicly declare resistance to participation in the war. Many people in the anti-war movement have taken inspiration from soldiers, veterans and military families who oppose Bush's war on Iraq. Read more, including Katherine Jashinski's statement from November 17th

Courage to Resist School of the Americas Watch