Deserter to seek conscientious objector status

By Michael Martinez
Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK — In Iraq last April, freshly promoted Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia led squads of Florida National Guard soldiers in the fight against insurgents in the deadly Sunni triangle.

But Mejia became increasingly pained by his war experiences, and when he went on leave last fall, he decided not to come back. The staff sergeant — one of about 600 soldiers counted as AWOL by the Army during home leaves from Iraq — was eventually labeled a deserter.

Now, after five months in hiding, Mejia plans to surrender today in Boston on the eve of the war's first anniversary, and he aims to become the first Iraq war veteran to publicly challenge the morality and conduct of the conflict. At a time when Americans increasingly hold grave concerns about the bloody war, Mejia intends to seek conscientious objector status to avoid a court-martial.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Mejia, 28, said he found the war and many of his combat orders morally questionable and ultimately unacceptable. He has been living in New York and other Eastern cities, traveling by bus instead of by plane or car to escape the attention of the police and military. He has avoided using his credit cards and cell phone.

Mejia accuses commanders of using GIs as "bait" to lure out Iraqi fighters so that U.S. soldiers could win combat decorations. He also says operations were conducted in ways that sometimes risked injuring civilians.

He has accused his battalion and company commanders of incompetence and has reiterated past guardsmen's complaints about being poorly equipped.

His immediate commander described Mejia as a poorly performing soldier who "lost his nerve" as bloodshed intensified in one of Iraq's more violent cities, Ramadi.

http://www.news-leader.com/today/0315-Deserterto-39089.html

Deserter to seek conscientious objector status

Courtesy of www.news-leader.com