AN AMERICAN soldier who deserted in disgust at civilian casualties in Iraq has turned himself in and launched an attempt to register as a conscientous objector.
Camilo Mejia, a 28-year-old Nicaraguan, who enlisted eight years ago hoping to secure US citizenship, is the first of an estimated 600 deserters from Iraq to turn himself in, his lawyers said. When he surrendered this week, he told reporters that the war in Iraq had been driven by oil. He decided to leave after being involved in a gunfight in which innocent Iraqis were killed.
He has accused his commanders of luring Iraqi fighters into gunfights to boost their chances of winning medals and of risking the lives of civilians.
I am not against the military. The military has been my family, he said before giving himself up at an air force base in Massachusetts. My commanders are not evil, but this war is evil. I did not sign up for the military to go halfway around the world to be an instrument of oppression.
**This is an oil-driven war, and I dont think any soldier signs up to fight for oil,he said. **
Mr Mejia, who was a psychology student before serving three years with the US Army and five with the National Guard, could face five years in jail. As a green-card holder rather than a US citizen, he might also be deported, but it was a sacrifice he said that he had to make.
I am saying no to war,he said. I went to Iraq and was an instrument of violence and now I have decided to become an instrument of peace.
Mr Mejias lawyer is Louis Font, a 1968 graduate from West Point, who registered as a conscientious objector in the Vietnam era. He said that Mr Mejia could provide a test case of the policy on conscientious objectors in Iraq. Thousands of men avoided going to Vietnam by registering as conscientious objectors. The number peaked in 1971, when 4,381 people applied.
Nevertheless, the question mark remains and risks damaging Mr Bushs standing next to John Kerry, his Democratic rival for the presidential election in November, who returned his service from Vietnam armed with tales of heroics and became an anti-war activist.
Mr Mejia is not the first American soldier to seek conscientious objector status, but he could find his case harder to win because he was classified a deserter just 30 days after he failed to report for duty.
Army deserter returns to condemn war driven by oil
Oil huh the whole world knows what this war is about and it certainly is’nt about WMDs or Humanitarian missions is it!