Sgt. Kevin Benderman,U.S. Army, 1st Squadron,
10th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
Kevin applied for CO status after serving one year in Iraq during which he witnessed homes bombed and people begging for food and drinking water from mud puddles. He saw the arm of an 8- or 9 year-old girl burned up to her shoulder and heard the troop executive officer say that the U.S. Army could not help as medical supplies were limited. Kevin refused a second tour to Iraq. He was court martialed and spent 15 months in jail. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience.
Learn more about Kevin’s case: http://www.bendermantimeline.com/
”When you are over there, you are lower than dirt; you are expendable as a soldier in general, and as a woman, it's worse."
Specialist Suzanne Swift, U.S. Army Military Police
Stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington and deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005, Suzanne Swift was sexually harassed and assaulted by superiors. After returning from Iraq, she suffered a PTSD breakdown. Upon learning that her unit was to redeploy to Iraq, Suzanne went AWOL rather than subject herself to the horrors she experienced during her first tour of duty. She was arrested at her mother's home in June 2006. In November, 2006 Lt. Gen. James Dubik, commander of Ft. Lewis, referred Swift's case to a special court martial; this means an Article 32, the military's form of a pre-trial, is not required. Charges include AWOL and Missing Movement.
After her court martial, Suzanne’s mother, Sarah Rich stated: “Suzanne faced her court martial with strength and respect. I was more than proud of her. She was sentenced to 30 days in prison and was stripped of all her rank. Being stripped of her rank was the most devastating thing for her. She is being held at the prison at Bangor Naval base in Washington. … This will be the second Christmas the Army has taken Suzanne away from us. Christmas 2004 she was in Iraq.”
Learn more about Suzanne’s case: www. SuzanneSwift.org.
I end with a quote from the U.S. Army’s First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first U.S. commissioned officer to refuse to deploy to the Iraq war and occupation. He is charged with "contemptuous words" towards President Bush and conduct unbecoming an officer; he faces over seven years in military prison. Ehren Watada’s is the first military persecution of an objector for First Amendment speech since 1965:
“I [have] a radical idea… born from the very concept of American service: that to stop an illegal and unjust war, the soldiers can choose to stop fighting. [This] is not an easy task…Soldiers must be aware that they are being used for ill-gain. They must hold themselves responsible for individual action. They must remember that duty to the Constitution and the people supersedes the ideologies of their leadership. [They] must be willing to face ostracism by peers, worry over the survival of their families, and the loss of personal freedom. But they must also know that resisting an authoritarian government at home is equally important to fighting a foreign aggressor on the battlefield. Finally, those wearing the uniform must know beyond any shadow of a doubt that by refusing immoral and illegal orders they will be supported by the people not with mere words but by action.”
Lt. Ehren Watada’s vision is one of radical American heroism. Will his words stimulate GI resistance to this war similar to the resistance of that other war in Vietnam?
Learn more about Ehren’s case: http://thankyoult.live.radicaldesigns.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
For more information:
GI Rights Hotline: www.girights.org
Courage to Resist: www.couragetoresist.org
MotherSpeak: www.motherspeak.org
