Forty miles from my home here in south Georgia is a major launching pad for US violence against the world, the Army's Ft. Stewart. Recently, a voice for peace and sanity has cried out in this vast wilderness, the voice of veteran soldier Kevin Benderman.
Kevin Benderman has been a good soldier, a soldier who like many, signed up to help defend and support the country he loves. He even went to Iraq with his Army unit. But while he was there, a serious thing happened. Kevin saw some things that began to make him doubt that what he and other soldiers in Iraq were doing is really about defending America. When he came home, he began to talk about the things he'd seen and the thoughts he'd had with his wife, Monica, and a few friends.
The LA Times article on Kevin reported: "In the six months he spent in combat in Iraq in 2003, Benderman said, he was badly shaken by what he witnessed. He saw a young Iraqi girl with her arm horribly burned and blackened, standing helplessly on a roadside as Benderman's convoy rushed past. He saw dogs feasting on civilian corpses that had been dumped into pits. He saw young U.S. soldiers treat war like a video game, he said, with few qualms about killing or the effects of the invasion on ordinary Iraqis.
Benderman said he begged an officer to stop and help the girl, but was told that the unit couldn't spare its limited medical supplies. 'I had to look at that little girl, look into her eyes, and in her eyes I saw the TRUTH. I cannot kill,' Benderman wrote in his application."
He began to pray and search his soul about these things., and after a few months he came to the realization that he could no longer justify what was being done by the US in Iraq, nor his own role in it.
"War should be relegated to the shelves of history, as was human sacrifice. If you stop to think about it you become aware that war is just human sacrifice. There is no honor in killing as many as you can as quickly as you can," Kevin said in a statement. He applied for Conscientious Objector status with the Army, and while the request was being considered, Kevin was ordered to return to Iraq with his unit, the 3rd Infantry. He refused to deploy, despite threats from his Commanding Officer and ridicule from his Chaplain. He is now being prosecuted by the Army for his actions, though it's not clear what the charges against him, or the evidence, are.
Kevin's wife, Monica, reports recently that 22 other soldiers from Kevin's unit have refused to deploy. Two of these have tried to commit suicide rather than return to Iraq, and 17 have gone AWOL. The status of the other three is unknown.
The story of this incident and updated information are available, along with an opportunity to contribute to Kevin's defense fund, at BendermanDefense.org.
We know this imperial attack on Iraq - and the continuing occupation by US forces - is morally repugnant, tactically wrong, and strategically stupid. But we don't have to put our lives and freedom on the line to say that. Kevin Benderman does, and he has done so willingly out of his great courage and moral conviction. He speaks for all of us, and his example is a shining one that gives hope and the possibility of redemption for all of us. We need to support him with our words and our money. Right now, he needs money to hire a civilian lawyer to help him defend himself against possible charges of desertion, and to help him make the case for his CO status. Please help. It's the least we can do.
