Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia comes out of hiding to surrender at Hanscom Air Force Base with family members and other sympathizers at his side
By Kirsten Scharnberg
Tribune national correspondent
March 16, 2004
SHERBORN, Mass. -- Hours before becoming the first Iraq war deserter to publicly surrender to military police, Camilo Mejia huddled with his family and supporters in the basement of Peace Abbey, a tranquil sanctuary where he periodically had hidden to avoid arrest over the previous five months.
With a bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi to his right and a black-and-white portrait of John Lennon to his left, the 28-year-old Florida National Guard soldier celebrated Communion with a Roman Catholic priest who wore a cross that had been a gift from an Iraqi archbishop. Mejia hugged his weeping mother, Maritza. He solemnly stood before a room of pacifists, declaring himself a "conscientious objector to war" and signing the Army document requesting that status.
Then Mejia was driven by bus Monday to a nearby military base, where he identified himself to the guards at the front gate and turned himself in.
"I have no idea what will happen now," Mejia said before leaving the abbey for Hanscom Air Force Base. "But whatever happens--if they try to say I am a criminal and they give me many years in jail--at least I know I've made the right decision and that God has forgiven me already."
Though his lawyers and family had feared the runaway staff sergeant would immediately be court-martialed, Mejia was released on his own recognizance. He was given a plane ticket to Miami and ordered to report immediately to his unit.
What steps the Army would take next remained unclear, though it seemed likely Mejia eventually would be tried for being absent without leave, attorney Louis Font said.
600 others are AWOL
Font speculated that whatever happens to his client would serve as a precedent for the estimated 600 soldiers who have gone AWOL to avoid service in Iraq. Some, like Mejia, have failed to return to Iraq after being granted temporarily leaves home and others have deserted before deploying overseas.
"This case is going to resonate," said Font, who graduated from West Point in 1968 and later registered as a conscientious objector to avoid serving in the Vietnam War.
Mejia's punishment for desertion could range from a dishonorable discharge to years in prison. Desertion during wartime is an offense that can be punishable by death, but since the Civil War that has only happened once: the execution of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945.
In announcing his decision to surrender on Monday, Mejia surrounded himself with poignant symbols of peace. On the front lawn of the Peace Abbey, which had been visited by another famous conscientious objector, the boxer Muhammad Ali, the soldier stood before a tombstone dedicated to unknown civilians killed in war. Nearby was a statue of Mother Teresa and a plaque with the words to a Muslim prayer for peace. Around his neck, Mejia wore a St. Francis of Assisi medallion that was embedded with a scrap of the bloody robe Archbishop Oscar Romero was wearing at the time of his 1980 assassination in El Salvador.
"I am saying `No' to war," Mejia said. "I have chosen peace. I went to Iraq and I was an instrument of violence. Now I have decided to be an instrument of peace."
Those in the military were more skeptical of Mejia's motives. Lt. Col. Ron Tittle, Florida National Guard spokesman, noted the timing of Mejia's surrender--his unit returned to the United States only nine days earlier so Mejia could not be forced to rejoin them in Iraq. Further, his former commander has told the Tribune that Mejia was a poorly performing soldier who "lost his nerve."
But Mejia, who went into hiding after failing to report for duty on Oct. 16 after a two-week home furlough, disputed that. He challenged the morality of the war, alleging that it was a conflict waged solely for oil. The staff sergeant further asserted that he and his comrades were often used "as bait" to lure armed insurgents. He said that he had chosen Monday to turn himself in because he was tired of running from authorities.
`I'm not a criminal'
"I'm not a criminal," he said. "I have not committed a crime and I should not run. I'm willing to face my responsibilities."
Tittle said the Army would announce how it would proceed with Mejia's case in the coming days. He said Mejia likely would be sent to Ft. Stewart, a post in Georgia at which the Florida National Guard's soldiers are processed as they are shifted from active duty and back to guard status upon their return from Iraq.
Tittle bristled when asked whether Mejia had been formally designated by the Army as AWOL, a legal distinction that requires the processing of official paperwork. Mejia and his lawyer said earlier in the day that notification had not been delivered.
"It's hard to notify someone when they're hiding from you," Tittle said. "If you're not where you're supposed to be, you're AWOL. That's drilled into you in the military. He knows that."
Mejia, a native of Nicaragua, is a permanent resident of the United States who served in the Army for three years. He had served in the National Guard for five years when his unit was called to active duty. Mejia was in Iraq from April until October, when he returned home.
Pacifists from across the country have taken up Mejia's cause. On Monday, dozens of them rode with him to Hanscom Air Force Base, singing songs along the way and comparing notes about who had been arrested for participating in recent anti-war demonstrations.
Political overtures
The day turned sharply political, with almost every speaker denouncing the Bush administration and likening Mejia's case to recent, hotly contested accusations that the president was absent from duty in the Alabama National Guard.
David Cline, the president of Veterans for Peace who was wounded in the Vietnam War, said stories Mejia told him about the carnage he witnessed in Iraq reminded Cline of his experiences decades before.
"It takes courage to stand up under fire," Cline said, "but it takes even more courage to be able to stand up and say no to the military when you've decided they're wrong."
As Mejia walked into military custody Monday, he turned and waved to his family and supporters. His mother and father cried, and several supporters waved back with brightly colored "Peace" flags.
The soldier carried a backpack containing a Bible, a journal and some clothes. A reporter asked Mejia whether the clothes were his military fatigues.
"No," he said. "Civilian clothes."
Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune
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