U.S. War Heroes of the Iraq War

Abdulla Webster, Sgt. First Class

  Abdulla Webster refused to deploy to Iraq citing religious beliefs and was sentenced June 3rd, 2004 to 14 months’ confinement and given a bad-conduct discharge.  He is currently in a prison in Washington State.  He had 18 years of service before his decision to refuse to deploy to Iraq. 

Webster says this was a war of aggression, its rationale falsely stated.  He believes it would now be best if US troops withdrew from Iraq immediately.

He was just months shy of completing 20 years of his military service, and as a result of his stand he has lost his military pension, and his freedom. 

Amnesty International has adapted Mr. Webster as a Prisoner of conscience.  See a summary of the Amnesty case report here. 

 A good story on Abdulla Webster can be found here.  Another one here, from Oct 26th. 

Update: Abdulla Webster was released from Prison on May 1st, 2005

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Carl Webb, Texas Army National Guard

Carl Webb, 38, is a member of the Texas Army National Guard and a U.S. army veteran. In 2001 following a 7-year break in service, he enlisted in the National Guard expecting to serve for only three years. His term of service ends August 22, however, less than two months shy of the end of his service completion he was informed that his term had been involuntarily extended and he would be sent to Fort Hood for training and deployed to Iraq in November.

Webb is one of many reservists who is being compelled to serve in the war in Iraq under the "stop-loss" program.  “This policy is practically an unofficial draft,” Webb said. “It is conscription against a person’s will.”

Webb's perspective is that “The war is unethical and illegal U.S. aggression,” he said. “It’s all about oil and profits.”

Carl Webb expects to serve prison time for following his conscience. 

Excerpted from press release

Carl Webb's Homepage   

A recent article here: “I am not going to be silenced”

See also this story from the Austin Chronicle 

Carl Webb recieved a "Less than Honorable Discharge from the military in August of 2004

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Michael Sudbury, Army Reservist

Michael Sudbury, age 24, joined the military right out of high school.  He re-enlisted in the year 2000, with his contracted term of service up in January of 2003.  However he was prevented from leaving the service at that time, another victim of the "stop-loss" program (the draft by another name). 

After long reflection Sudbury also came to see all war as immoral, and filed for Conscientious Objector status, based on that conviction.  He had not yet completed the application process for CO status before his unit was ordered to ship out to Iraq.  After conflicting messages from the military regarding his possible release from service, Sudbury decided that he would refuse to join his unit in combat, no matter the consequences.  Fortunately, just days before his unit was to be shipped to Iraq, he was discharged from the military. 

If you are ordered to kill someone that you do not think should be killed, but you pull the trigger because you are afraid of the punishment for not following orders, you are not free....If you refuse to do something that you think is wrong, even though you will be fined, imprisoned, attacked, or even executed, then…..then you are free.-  Sudbury

Speech April 27th, 2003     Press Conference, February 10th, 2003

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Wilfredo Torres, Private, U.S. Army

When Army Pvt. Wilfredo Torres, 19, of Rochester, N Y walked to the podium at a Veterans Day antiwar rally in New York City on November 10th, 2002, he took important steps for the newest generation of GIs and reservists.

Wilfredo told an audience of about 200 vets from WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and the first Gulf War, that he'd joined the Army to serve his country and to learn a trade. However, after suffering severe harassment by one drill instructor he went AWOL from Ft Benning, GA. Back in Rochester with his family, Wilfredo did some reading and thinking. "I decided that it would be wrong for our country to attack Iraq on its own, without working as part of the United Nations. I'm no expert, but I think that such an attack would undermine the UN and lower America's standing in the world." he told this reporter.

Private Torres surrendered to the Army at Fort Myers, Virginia and was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky which has become a center for "processing" returning AWOLs. Torres reported that at least sixty other AWOL soldiers were in the unit upon his arrival, many having already spent several weeks awaiting the resolution of their cases. A phone call from a Rolling Stone reporter asking to interview Torres got the command's attention. The next morning he was quickly processed for discharge, seven days after he had arrived. He was given an Other than Honorable discharge administratively in lieu of court-martial and driven to the local bus depot.

A statement from Wilfredo Torres here.  Another story here. 

See also a Statement of Solidarity with Latino Military Resisters. 

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Ghanim Khalil, Army National Guard

Sp/4 Ghanim Khalil, 26, of Staten Island, N.Y., announced before the huge anti-war rally at the United Nations on February 15th that he would refuse orders to deploy as part of any unilateral military invasion of Iraq.

At the huge but peaceful rally on Feb. 15th, Specialist Khalil told the throng; "Today, I am in a position to make a difference or remain silent. Will I participate in a war which could lead to hundreds of thousands of civilian dead, endanger the safety of the American people and create chaos in the Middle East, all to benefit a few powerful and wealthy people?

He continued: "This war will spread hatred between America and the Muslim world. It is the duty of educated groups on both sides to put down our masks and weapons, so that there can be a dialogue--not a clash--of civilizations. Today, I'm making my choice and it's to make a difference!"

Khalil will return soon to his monthly drill with his Army Guard unit in Brooklyn, NY where he will learn when his unit will be ordered to deploy.

Excerpt from Citizen Soldier

Update- Ghanim Khalil has been allowed to separate from the Army Reserves as his 8 year commitment was at an end, despite "stop-loss".  He remains active in the anti-war movement. 

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David Bunt

David Bunt whose request to be classified as a conscientious objector, and was sent to the brig on September 22nd 2004.  This following is an appeal from Chuck Fagar of Quaker House: 

Last year, many of you responded to a similar call, and Marine resister Stephen Funk received over a thousand letters, which helped him tremendously. 

Now I'm asking that you take up your pen again, for David Bunt, an army private who was sent to the same Camp Lejeune brig on September 22, 2004.

David Bunt is a churchgoing family man; he and his wife Peggy have three sons; Gabriel, the youngest, is ten months. As you might imagine, Peggy could use some encouragement too.

Like many others, David joined the army after 9/11 to serve his country and fight terror. It was during a tour in Afghanistan that he realized he couldn't pull the trigger to kill another human. He wrote Quaker House from there for help in preparing a CO claim.

We've done our best, but every step has been an uphill struggle. David filed his CO claim last year, endured a brutal, unfair hearing and months of uncertainty, only to have his claim rejected.

What does a pacifist who is stuck in the army do then? Especially one with a family of four depending on him? David tried to persuade the army that holding on to him is a waste of taxpayers money, and they should discharge him.

That's what he hoped for. But its been one depressing, exhausting hassle after another since then, with Quaker House behind him all the way.

Instead of a discharge, earlier this week I watched David face a court martial at Ft. Bragg. In the end, he did plead guilty to missing a parachute jump, because he had. For this he got a jail sentence of 45 days, to be served in the brig at Camp Lejeune.

It could have been worse.  Still, this family needs encouragement. 

David has been released.  We appreciate his courage. 

Chuck Fager, Director   Quaker House, Fayetteville NC

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Aidan Delgado, Army Reserve Specialist

Check out Delgado's upcoming book:

 The Sutras of Abu Ghraib: Notes from a Conscientious Objector in Iraq 

Coming soon to a independent bookstore near you.  More. 

Aidan served in Iraq from April 2003 to April 2004 where he was deployed in Nasiriyah and Abu Ghraib. He sought conscientious objector status soon after his arrival in Iraq. He was granted CO status after he served his full tour of duty in Iraq.

While at Abu Ghraib Aidan witnessed many things that disturbed him greatly, including the use of inappropriate force against prisoners, the abuse and killing of detainees.   From the paper work he saw he learned that most detainees were there not for resistance to the occupation, but for petty crimes, such as public drunkenness.  Aidan further explains in an interview on Democracy Now!:

And they were here in this horrible, extremely dangerous prison. That's when I began to feel, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm even participating in this. Then there was sort of a series of demonstrations or prisoner protests against the conditions, against the cold, against the lack of food and the type of food. And the military's response to these demonstrations was, I felt, extremely heavy-handed. I'm not going to say it was illegal. I don't have the background to bring a legalistic challenge, but I will say that it was immoral, the amount of force they responded with. And I think I shared some images of prisoners beaten to within an inch of their life or dead, by the guards. And five prisoners that I know of were shot dead during a demonstration for what amounted to throwing stones.

More coming soon on Aidan Delgado. 

See his full interview on "Democracy Now!"

Another interview appears in Counterpunch.  And here is one from Znet

See also a Statement of Solidarity with Latino Military Resisters. 

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Diedra Cobb, Army Reservist

Several years ago, looking for a way to make a positive contribution to the world, Diedra Cobb dropped out of college and joined the US Army. Like so many other young people, Diedra realized only after she had joined that she'd had serious misconceptions about military service, and that she had made a mistake.

As her unit prepared to deploy to Iraq last year, Diedra told her supervisors that her moral and ethical convictions would not allow her to fire her weapon if she was forced to go along. The unit left her behind, and Diedra filed for conscientious objector status.

A statement by Diedra was read to a crowd gathered to commemorate Memorial Day in Chicago in 2003

It's as though I've been born again and I'm standing here looking at the world with these great big eyes and so many beautiful faces are staring back at me. And I see so many being infected with so much hate and greed and blind conformity; one following right after another in a daze, in a trance, in such a terribly deep trance; it's overwhelming, my heart bleeds. And I sit here in limbo telling the world MY story, which is our story, so that those who may have even a snippet of curiosity about why so many people are screaming "Not in our name!" may have some inspiration....

After thousands of years of war,

And we are still too blind to see,

That all we are accomplishing,

Is the death of you and me.

--Diedra Cobb

For more info on Diedra’s case, please go to American Friends Service Committee’s Youth and Militarism (includes a list of people to contact on her behalf) and to Vietnam Veterans Against the War

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