G.I. Seeks Conscientious Objector Status – Shaken by a gunfight in Iraq that killed innocent civilians, a 28-year-old U.S. soldier declared the invasion “an oil-driven war” and said he won’t return to the Middle East and fight. Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, of Miami Beach, surrendered Monday at an air force base in Massachusetts, where he was ordered to report to his unit Tuesday at the North Miami Armory in suburban Miami.
A Florida college student went AWOL during leave and has publicly aligned himself with anti-war demonstrators, declaring that he will not return to Iraq for “an oil-driven war.” He has expressed his intention to declare himself a conscientious objector to avoid returning.
Many people have thrown the term Conscientious objector around, but few people use it in the term used by the Military. A “(extlink)conscientious objector has to reject war in all forms”:http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Anti-War-Soldier.html not just be opposed to a particular war. The Army, for all that it serves a democracy is not one, and refusal to obey particular lawful orders is a punishible offense, whether you agree with the orders or not.
While it’s possible that the article portrays Mr. Mejia out of context, it seems more likely that he is latching onto conscientious objector status in order to avoid going back to Iraq, for whatever reason. Since he belongs to the Active Army now that he has been activated, I suppose if his request were granted he could be shuffled off somewhere else. I wonder if he would be willing to serve the remainder of his activation in Kosovo enforcing the disarmament?
Conscientious Objectors Cannot Refuse JUST Iraq Service
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G.I. Seeks Conscientious Objector Status –
A Florida college student went AWOL during leave and has publicly aligned himself with anti-war demonstrators, declaring that he will not return to Iraq for “an oil-driven war.” He has expressed his intention to declare himself a conscientious objector to avoid returning.
Many people have thrown the term Conscientious objector around, but few people use it in the term used by the Military. A “(extlink)conscientious objector has to reject war in all forms”:http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Anti-War-Soldier.html not just be opposed to a particular war. The Army, for all that it serves a democracy is not one, and refusal to obey particular lawful orders is a punishible offense, whether you agree with the orders or not.
While it’s possible that the article portrays Mr. Mejia out of context, it seems more likely that he is latching onto conscientious objector status in order to avoid going back to Iraq, for whatever reason. Since he belongs to the Active Army now that he has been activated, I suppose if his request were granted he could be shuffled off somewhere else. I wonder if he would be willing to serve the remainder of his activation in Kosovo enforcing the disarmament?