American Views Abroad

 
There are far too many grim statistics in the last few weeks alone. In October 3,709 Iraqis were killed in the mayhem in Iraq and as of last Thursday 2,860 US service members lost their lives in this immoral war of choice. Last Tuesday the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC heard the case of Army medic Agustin Aguayo. His hearing is a habeas corpus petition against the Army for wrongfully denying him conscientious objector status.
Interestingly, it is the first such case before a federal court since 1971. The judges have not yet handed down a decision. Complete information on his case can be found at www.aguayodefense.org.

Government attorneys are arguing that to receive conscientious objector status a soldier must show a deeply rooted objection to war in any form. Aguayo's attorney argues that his beliefs evolved over time and 'crystallized' to the point that he could no longer take a life. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15833631/

Militaries have never had any interest in soldiers changing their minds on the battlefield. Last week ZDF, a public TV station, aired a 90 minute documentary on Die Hoelle von Verdun, The Hell of Verdun. Based on diaries and letters of French and German soldiers, it depicted ghastly scenes and statistics of 300 days of ongoing slaughter in 1916. 700,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or uncounted for; the average time of survival of a soldier sent to fight there was 14 days; those commanders running the show knew full well that the battle could only end in a stalemate, yet refused to seek another way out of it. Some scenes were so horrific I had to change channels for some respite. Not an uncommon feeling when turning on the evening news. The soldiers in that battle were in a perfect bind -- shot if they 'deserted', shot if they fought on. Verdun, as this documentary pointed out, is the symbol for the senselessness of war.

Aguayo, now in a military jail here in Germany for refusing to redeploy to Iraq, has been able to take his case to court. It would be disheartening if he were sentenced to years in prison for following his conscience and standing up for what he considers the right thing to do. It seems inconceivable after the post 1945 wars of Vietnam and Iraq that soldiers are to be punished for having their beliefs evolve over time.
- posted by Gloria @ 6:49 PM