Army sergeant refuses 2nd Iraq deployment (CNN/AP)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Army sergeant refuses 2nd Iraq deployment
Seeks conscientious objector status

SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) -- A mechanic with nine years in the Army, including a role in the assault on Baghdad, has refused to return to Iraq, claiming "you just don't know how bad it is."

Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, said he became morally opposed to war after seeing it firsthand during his first Iraq tour. Now he faces a possible court-martial after failing to deploy Friday with his unit.

"I told them that I refused deployment because I just couldn't go back over there," Benderman said Wednesday. "If I'm going to sit up there and tell everyone that I do not believe in war, why would I go back to a war zone?"

(snip)

"You can sit around your house and discuss this thing in abstract terms, but until you see and experience it for yourself, you just don't know how bad it is," he said. "How is it an honorable thing to teach a kid how to look through the sights of a rifle and kill another human being? War is the ultimate in violence and it is indiscriminate."

(snip)

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/13/objecting.soldier.ap/index.html

[KingChicken]

1. Right on, good luck to him and others who take a stand....

I'm glad we still have some people with backbone to say no to this american atrocity.

[Moderator]

2. duplicate topic, please discuss here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1146832