From U.S. Military "Opppose The War"

Published on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 by OneWorld.net

Iraq War Resisters to Get Boost from Veterans Group

by Aaron Glantz

SAINT LOUIS - Members of a leading Iraq war veterans’ organization voted this weekend to launch a campaign encouraging U.S. troops to refuse to fight.

The decision was made at the group’s annual membership meeting, held this weekend in Saint Louis, Missouri alongside the annual convention of the Veterans for Peace organization.

“Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) decided to make support of war resisters a major part of what we do,” said Garrett Rappenhagen, a former U.S. Army sniper who served in Iraq from February 2004 to February 2005.

“There’s a misconception that they’re cowards,” Rappenhagen said. “Most war resisters have already gone on a tour in Iraq. They’ve seen the war firsthand and have come to the conclusion that it’s morally wrong. This is something we all should support. So to break that timidness of how we view war resisters in America, IVAW decided to embrace them.”

To underscore that point, the veterans group elected Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia chair of its board of directors. In the winter of 2003, Mejia was the first soldier to refuse to return to fight in Iraq after an initial tour in the war zone.

When Mejia came home on leave after six months in Iraq, he went AWOL rather than return. Ultimately, he served nine months in prison after the military denied his demand to be discharged as a conscientious objector. Full Story Full Story