Progressive Minds

According to an Associated Press article, the Iraq war has caused an increase in the number of soldiers trying to get out of the army.

The Army has seen an increase in the number of soldiers who are seeking an honorable discharge as conscientious objectors.  Some soldiers are suing the military, saying their service has been wrongfully extended.  In 2004, 110 soldiers filed paperwork to be classified as a conscientious objector--approximately four times the number from 2000.

Marti Hiken, Co-Chair of the National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force, says "As this war continues, we're going to see more refusals, disobeying of orders, stop-loss lawsuits."

Camilo Mejia, a former Staff Sgt., says he did some soul searching while he was on a two-week leave last year, after serving a year in Iraq. "Going home gave me the opportunity to put my thoughts in order and to listen to what my conscience had to say. People would ask me about my war experiences and answering them took me back to all the horrors, the firefights, the ambushes, the time I saw a young Iraqi dragged by his shoulders through a pool of his own blood or an innocent man was decapitated by our machine gun fire."

Some Soldiers Trying to Get Out of Army