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On July 5, 2006, the Army brought three charges against an officer who refused to deploy to Iraq because he believes the war is illegal, according to officials at Fort Lewis, Wash. First Lt. Ehren Watada, of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, at Fort Lewis was charged with missing movement, contempt toward officials and conduct unbecoming an officer. His unit deployed to Iraq on June 22. He has since been reassigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, I Corps. Eric Seitz, Watada’s attorney, said he’s not surprised that his client was charged with missing movement. The other two charges were unexpected,...

The Army filed three charges today, including conduct unbecoming an officer, against a lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq last month because he believes the war there is illegal. Military lawyers calculated that 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, could face nearly eight years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if convicted, said his attorney, Eric Seitz of Honolulu. The other charges are missing movement and contempt toward officials.

A Fort Lewis-based officer who declared that he would not accompany his unit to Iraq followed his promise this morning. Lt. Ehren Watada was not present when his battalion, part of the 3rd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division, gathered at 5:13 a.m. Instead, Watada remained within his headquarters building. Watada, who joined the Army in 2003, said he came believe the Iraq war was illegal and immoral, and he had a duty not to follow orders. No charges against Watada will be filed until the commander has had a chance to review all of the facts of the case and consult...

TORONTO (CP) - A "trigger-happy" U.S. army squad leader shot the foot off an unarmed Iraqi man and soldiers kicked a severed head around like a soccer ball, a U.S. war deserter told an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing Thursday. Joshua Key, the first U.S. deserter with combat experience in Iraq to apply for refugee status in Canada, told the board he witnessed numerous atrocities committed by U.S. forces while serving eight months as a combat engineer. Key, 27, said he was never trained on the Geneva Convention and was told in Iraq by superior officers that the international law...

YAHK, British Columbia (AP) -- A Vietnam war-era deserter who was caught crossing into the United States and held for a week says he made a mistake when he fled the Marine Corps in 1968. "When I was 18, I wasn't aware that duty and honor would mean as much to me as they do now," Allen Abney, 56, said Monday in this southeast British Columbia town. "Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have done what I did 38 years ago," he said. "It wasn't worth it, all the pain I caused my family." Abney was arrested March 9...

YAHK, British Columbia — A Vietnam war-era deserter who was caught crossing into the United States and held for a week says he made a mistake when he fled the Marine Corps in 1968. "When I was 18, I wasn't aware that duty and honor would mean as much to me as they do now," Allen Abney, 56, said Monday in this southeast British Columbia town. "Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have done what I did 38 years ago," he said. "It wasn't worth it, all the pain I caused my family." Abney was arrested March 9 while...

A B.C. man who was arrested last week in the U.S. for deserting the Marines in 1968 was freed from a military jail Thursday evening. Allen Abney, 56, has been granted an administrative discharge after being held in a military prison in Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, since his arrest last Thursday. "The Marine Corps determined that it would be in the best interest of justice, the Marine Corps and Mr. Abney to separate him administratively," said Lt. Lawton King. "He's been discharged from the Marine Corps so he's no longer a Marine." King said privacy laws prevented him...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A man who deserted from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968 likely will be freed within a week without a court martial, a marine corps spokesman said. Allen Abney, 56, was arrested last Thursday when he and his wife tried to cross into the United States from their home in Kingsgate, B.C. A routine computer check revealed an arrest warrant for the father of three, officials said. He was being held in the Camp Pendleton brig north of San Diego in a private room with a window and access to television, Lieut. Lawton King, a marine...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - A man who deserted the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968 was being held at the military prison here following his arrest as he tried to enter the country from Canada, officials said. Allen Abney, 56, was arrested Thursday when he and his wife tried to cross into the United States from their home in Kingsgate, B.C., for a trip to Reno, Nev.. His daughter, Jessica Abney, said he had crossed into the United States hundreds of times without incident. But officials said a routine computer check this time disclosed an arrest warrant. Allen Abney was...

A B.C. man spent the weekend detained at a military base in California after being arrested for deserting the U.S. Marine Corps four decades ago during the Vietnam War. Allen Abney, who was born in the United States but became a Canadian citizen in 1977, was arrested at a border crossing on Thursday while trying to enter Idaho from southeastern British Columbia. In 1968, Abney was a 19-year-old marine when he fled to Canada because he didn't want to fight in Vietnam. He is the third marine from the Vietnam era to be arrested this month, and Toronto lawyer Jeffrey...

SALT LAKE CITY During her visit to Lebanon last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought extradition of five men–one of them missing Utah Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun, a Lebanese newspaper reported. The Daily Star said in a story posted on its Web site Monday that the Lebanese government has refused persistent U.S. requests to hand over the five Lebanese citizens. However, it quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying the refusal was not final, and the request was currently under study by officials. "We have no official final comment at this point,'' the spokesman told the newspaper. A...

Anti-war demonstrators gathered outside a Toronto court Wednesday where it was decision day for a U.S. military deserter who fled his post rather than serve in Iraq is asking to be allowed to remain in this country. On Wednesday morning, the Federal Court began reviewing the case of former soldier Jeremy Hinzman, 27, who fled the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C., in January, 2004, to avoid service in Iraq and sought refuge in Toronto with his wife and son. Outside the courthouse, protesters held up signs and banners declaring: 'Let war resisters stay.' The court — which is...

FORT WORTH -- At 17, Ernest McQueen thought he had it all figured out. The honor student quit high school and joined the Marines. He planned to go to school to become a payroll clerk. "I was gung-ho when I went in," McQueen recalled about his January 1968 enlistment. Then came news of the March 1968 My Lai massacre by U.S. soldiers. Hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women, children and elderly men, were killed. McQueen heard about the protests. He heard about the stories from fellow Marines who'd come home. "I thought it was a crazy world. All the...

Without question, Jerry Texiero doesn't look like most who find themselves locked in the Camp Lejeune brig. But that's where the 65-year-old man now finds himself, charged with deserting from the Marine Corps more than 40 years ago. It's a place his lawyers are trying to argue him out of, claiming that he is being held unlawfully. Accused of deserting from his Camp Pendleton-based unit in 1965 when he was a 24-year-old corporal, Texiero began using the name Gerome Conti and took up residence in Florida. But the Marine Corps Absentee Collection Center - which investigates desertion cases - eventually...

Pennsylvania Rep. John ‘Jack’ Murtha, a Vietnam veteran, told ABC News this week that because of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy, he would not serve in the U.S. military today, and he discouraged others from enlisting. The 73-year-old Democrat lawmaker could not be reached for comment, as colleagues speculated that he already may have entered Canada to ride out the remainder of the U.S. military occupation of Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman said the government would not pursue Rep. Murtha on draft-dodging charges, since there is no military draft. “We respect Jack Murtha’s experience as a former Marine,” the unnamed Pentagon...

NEW YORK : A US Army deserter said the one thing he did right during his 40 years in North Korea was to leave the country, which was training his daughters as spies, in an interview. "I made a big mistake of my life, but getting my daughters out of there, that was one right thing I did," Charles Robert Jenkins told Time magazine 40 years after he downed 10 beers and wandered across the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Jenkins, a GI from North Carolina, said North Korea wanted him to have Western-looking children that they could...

Four decades after he vanished into North Korea, an American soldier today pleaded guilty before a US military court to desertion and tearfully recounted how depression and fear of death drove him to defect. Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins, now a frail 64-year-old, was given a light 30-day jail term in a case that had pitted American demands for justice with Tokyo’s call for leniency so Jenkins could settle down in Japan with his Japanese wife. In gripping court-martial testimony that shed light on a long-standing Cold War mystery, Jenkins said that he never intended to stay in North Korea, and...

RALEIGH, N.C. - A U.S. Army deserter who spent decades in North Korea says his communist keepers abused him and controlled every aspect of his life, down to telling him how often to have sex. "It was the worst mistake anyone ever made," Charles Jenkins said. "In words, I cannot express the feelings I have towards North Korea, the harassment I got, the hard life." In an interview airing Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes, Jenkins said he was given no painkillers when a tattoo on his forearm that read "U.S. Army" was cut off with a scalpel and scissors. ...........

SEATTLE (AP) - An Army veteran who fled to Canada to avoid prosecution for growing marijuana to treat his chronic pain was yanked from a hospital by Canadian authorities, driven to the border with a catheter still attached, and turned over to U.S. officials, his lawyer says. He then went five days with no medical treatment and only ibuprofen for the pain, attorney Douglas Hiatt said. Steven W. Tuck, 38, was still fitted with the urinary catheter when he shuffled into federal court for a detention hearing Wednesday, Hiatt said. "This is totally inhumane. He's been tortured for days for...

TOKYO -- First he abandoned the American military and fled across one of the world's most heavily armed borders into North Korea. Then, after living for nearly 40 years in the isolated nation, he moved to Japan and surrendered to U.S. authorities. Now U.S. Army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins has committed his four-decade odyssey to paper, publishing an autobiography titled, "To Tell the Truth." The book, which has so far only been published in Japanese by a Japanese publisher, details Jenkins' story from his youth in Rich Square, N.C., to his present life in Japan. It appeared in early October,...

“All we want is to find a home so our kids can grow up in a stable environment and go to school and make friends,” Brandi Key says as she towels off her six month old baby in the front seat of the Dodge Caravan which has recently become the family’s temporary home. Brandi is the wife of Joshua Key, a 27-year-old former soldier who deserted the US Army. The pair, in Nelson last week, are driving across Canada with their four kids in search of a home, and Canadian refugee status. The Keys are living in a van because...

FORT STEWART, Ga. -- Sgt. Kevin Benderman turned his back on war, but he insists he never deserted the Army whose uniform he continues to wear six months after refusing to deploy to Iraq for a second tour. Benderman served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, but says he decided he could no longer be a part of the destruction he witnessed, even if that meant choosing his conscience over his commitment to his fellow troops.

Army Deserter Charles Jenkins Apologizes Associated Press June 21, 2005 WELDON, N.C. - On one of his final days in the United States, U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins apologized for his more than 40-year-old decision to abandon his post for life in North Korea. Jenkins reportedly was to leave his boyhood home of North Carolina as early as Tuesday morning for an afternoon flight from Dulles International Airport to Tokyo and then head to Japan island where he now lives. But his sister's house in Weldon, where he held a news conference Monday, remained quiet early Tuesday. At that news...

Army Deserter Charles Jenkins Apologizes for Deserting Army for North Korea The Associated Press Published: Jun 21, 2005 WELDON, N.C. (AP) - On one of his final days in the United States, U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins apologized for his more than 40-year-old decision to abandon his post for life in North Korea. Jenkins reportedly was to leave his boyhood home of North Carolina as early as Tuesday morning for an afternoon flight from Dulles International Airport to Tokyo and then head to Japan island where he now lives. But his sister's house in Weldon, where he held a news...

Deserter Charles Jenkins Visits U.S. Associated Press June 13, 2005 TOKYO - Charles Jenkins, a U.S. soldier who deserted his Army unit 40 years ago and fled to North Korea, and his Japanese wife left their home in northern Japan on Monday for his first visit to the United States since he turned himself in late last year. Jenkins was scheduled to fly to Washington D.C. on Tuesday after spending a night in Tokyo. He has said he has no plans to move to the United States, but has repeatedly said he wants to see his 91-year-old mother, who lives...

Rich Square, N.C. -- Despite its pacifist Quaker beginnings, this soybean farming community is not shy about celebrating its military history. Bracketing the two-stoplight town are iron plaques honoring the Army colonel who guided the first automated aircraft landing and the general who led Marines in the first Gulf War. There was a time when some could have imagined a similar honor for Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins, who as a freckle-faced, jug-eared boy stitched soldier patches from Kellogg's Cornflakes boxes onto his clothes, prowled the woods with his BB gun for "commies" and lied about his age to join the...

Soldier May Face Desertion Court Martial Associated Press June 7, 2005 SAVANNAH, Ga. - An Army investigator has recommended a court-martial on desertion charges for a soldier who refused to deploy to Iraq. Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, faces up to seven years in prison if the recommendation of the investigating officer - whose role is similar to that of a civilian grand jury - is followed by Fort Stewart commanders. Benderman, an Army mechanic, refused to deploy with his 3rd Infantry Division unit for a second tour of duty Jan. 8, days after he told commanders he was seeking a...

Ever want to look into the mind of a Clinton-era ‘Generation-X’ slacker who ‘made a mistake’ by accepting a prestigious Air Force Academy slot and then just could not stand to serve out his 6 year military commitment? Well, the following would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sad (from the standpoint of our nation). Hopefully 9-11 has somewhat cured this kind of attitude amongst the younguns. The following is the actual text of a handwritten letter left at his desk by a 24-year-old Second Lieutenant, a US Air Force Academy graduate, on the day he deserted from the Air...

Pablo Paredes' name will be invoked by antiwar veterans and activists at Memorial Day events in the Bay Area and elsewhere this weekend, but not because he was sentenced to three months of hard labor and busted down to the Navy's lowest rank for refusing to board a ship bound for the Persian Gulf. Instead, supporters see a pinprick of hope in the no-jail-time sentence that the 23-year-old Paredes received this month -- hope that the military's attitude is softening toward dissenters, or at least that the relatively light sentence will encourage other active-duty soldiers to speak out. Antiwar veterans...

The Marine Corps' second-most wanted deserter was arrested Thursday in Chicago by the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force. Larry Patten, who was known as Lawrence Raggs after moving to the Chicago area, had been sentenced to confinement before escaping from Camp Pendleton, Calif., in 1988. He had been demoted and found guilty of bad conduct, a U.S. Marshals Service news release said. ... Through interviews and photos, local task force investigators confirmed that Patten and Raggs were the same person before making the arrest while Patten walked his dog Thursday morning, she said. ...

TWO MEN are being put on trial by the military this week because they answered their consciences. Pablo Paredes and Kevin Benderman refused to accept the lies they were told about the U.S. war on Iraq. Refused to accept the racist dehumanization of the Iraqi people. Refused to participate in the violence of the most lethal military machine in the history of the world. Refused to go to war for oil and empire in Iraq. Paredes, a third class petty officer, refused to board his Navy ship bound for the Persian Gulf, bringing 3,000 Marines to the battlefield--to kill and...

Sailor Who Refused Duty Gets Hard Labor By SETH HETTENA, Associated Press Writer Thursday, May 12, 2005 Printable Version Email This Article (05-12) 20:54 PDT SAN DIEGO, (AP) -- A U.S. sailor was sentenced to three months of hard labor Thursday for refusing to ship out for the Persian Gulf in a protest against the war in Iraq. Pablo Paredes was also demoted from petty officer third class to seaman recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy. A military judge, Lt. Cmdr. Bob Klant, imposed the sentence a day after finding Paredes guilty of refusing to board the board the...

SAN DIEGO -- A sailor who refused to deploy to Iraq with the USS Bonhomme Richard has been sentenced, 10News reported. Pablo Paredes refused to board his ship on Dec. 6, claiming opposition to war with Iraq. Paredes will get three months of hard labor, with two of those months restricted to Naval Station San Diego. He also had his rank reduced from Petty Officer Third Class to Seaman Recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy.

– A Navy sailor turned anti-war activist was convicted Wednesday of missing his ship's movement when he refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in December. A military judge deliberated about 40 minutes before finding Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes guilty of the count. Lt. Cmdr. Bob Klant dismissed a second count of unauthorized absence, ruling the charge was duplicative. Paredes stood at attention as the judge read the sentence, following the day's court-martial proceeding. The trial then shifted into the sentencing phase. Paredes, a 23-year-old from the New York City borough...

SAN DIEGO - A military judge ordered a Navy sailor on Thursday to complete three months of hard labor for refusing to deploy with his ship as a protest against the war in Iraq, but he declined prosecutors' requests for time in custody. Lt. Cmdr. Bob Klant also reduced Pablo Paredes' rank from petty officer third class to seaman recruit, the lowest in the Navy. Klant's sentencing came a day after he found Paredes guilty of one count of missing his ship's movement when he refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in...

A Wellington man serving in the Army who refused to return to Iraq now faces possible imprisonment for his desertion, an Army spokeswoman said Thursday. Sgt. Karim Iraq, 25, abandoned his Fort Stewart, Ga.-based unit in December after he was told he was going to be redeployed to Iraq for a second tour of duty in the war-torn country, said his father, Zayed Iraq. Disillusioned with Army life and feeling betrayed by the country's leadership when claims of the Iraqis having weapons of mass destruction failed to prove true, Karim Iraq drove home. Arrested late Tuesday by Palm Beach County...

U.S. Army Sgt. Karim Iraq, who is charged with deserting the military, was released from Palm Beach County Jail this afternoon - two days after the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office arrested him at his father's house in Wellington. Iraq's family is from Palestine, and Karim Iraq was born in Detroit. His case has been referred to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. "He's a dangerous guy with anti-American slogans and a deserter. It's someone we want to get off the street immediately," Richter said. On handwritten notes on government-issued paper, he curses the military, freedom and the...

WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) -- An Army sergeant who left his Georgia post six months ago was tracked down at his parents' home after a notebook with anti-American and anti-Semitic writings was found in his discarded backpack. Karim Iraq, 25, was arrested as a deserter and is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail, sheriff's officials said. His father said the soldier fled Fort Stewart after the Army extended his enlistment because he had soured on the U.S. military mission in Iraq. The father said the soldier was also harassed over his Palestinian heritage. "He was feeling rejected...

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Army said Friday it has denied conscientious objector status for a soldier who refused to deploy to Iraq for a second tour, saying he became morally opposed to war during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, filed his objector application Dec. 28, just 10 days before he skipped his unit's deployment flight. The Army mechanic faces a court-martial May 12 on charges of desertion and missing movement. The conscientious-objector denial came Wednesday from the Army's Headquarters Department, Fort Stewart spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Whetstone said. Benderman and his military attorney, Maj. Scott Sikes, did...

ITHACA NY--The first soldier jailed for not returning to fight in Iraq discussed his struggle to participate in a war he did not believe in yesterday. Camilo Mejia spoke out against serving in a war he calls "a corporate war for oil." Mejia said it is extremely difficult for soldiers to say they disagree with war on moral grounds, as this is perceived as unpatriotic. "No one wants to make the unpopular decision and say 'This is not a good war'," he said. "Out of fear of challenging U.S. leadership, people just go along." A soldier's sense of right and...

Although some are disappointed, no one should be surprised that U.S. army deserter Jeremy Hinzman's bid to be a "refugee" has been rejected. Hinzman himself says he expected this decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board, and will launch his appeal today. It will likely enable him to remain in Canada for years like other illegals. Looking at it objectively, it's hard to imagine a case weaker than Hinzman. His three main themes for deserting are: 1. Iraq is an "illegal" war (what's a "legal" war, one wonders?); 2. He was afraid he'd have to commit atrocities in Iraq; 3....

Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo E. Paredes decided to protest the Iraq war by not sailing with his ship when it left San Diego Harbor on Dec. 6. Yesterday, the Navy decided to charge Paredes, 23, with being absent without leave and missing movement, charges that could send him to military prison for as long as a year and limit his employment options. The action by the Navy surprised Paredes, who made headlines and drew supporters and critics with his stance. "I showed up at the base expecting to hear whether the local Navy command had approved my conscientious objector...

SAN DIEGO - A Navy sailor who refused to board a Persian Gulf-bound ship because of his opposition to the war in the Iraq will face a special court-martial - the military equivalent of a civilian misdemeanor trial, the Navy announced Friday.

TORONTO -- A U.S. Army paratrooper who refused to fight in Iraq has found no refuge north of the border. Jeremy Hinzman was denied political asylum in Canada on Thursday, a ruling that dealt a blow to other deserters here who argue such duty would force them to commit atrocities against civilians. An immigration board ruled that Hinzman had not convinced its members he would face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if returned to the United States.

TORONTO (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier who deserted because he opposed the war in Iraq does not qualify as a refugee and would not face excessive punishment for his actions if sent home, Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board ruled on Thursday. Jeremy Hinzman, 26, was the first of several U.S. deserters to file asylum claims in Canada. He fled from the 82nd Airborne Division two years ago and sought refugee status in Canada. Hinzman had maintained the U.S.-led war in Iraq was illegal and he feared committing atrocities if he was sent there. The ruling said Hinzman's reasons for refusing...

U.S. deserter denied refugee statusColin Perkel Canadian Press March 24, 2005 TORONTO -- An American war dodger who fled the U.S. military because he believed the invasion of Iraq was criminal has lost his bid for refugee status in Canada in a case closely watched on both sides of the border. In a written ruling released Thursday, the Immigration and Refugee Board said Jeremy Hinzman had not made a convincing argument that he faced persecution or cruel and unusual punishment in the United States. There was no immediate comment from Hinzman but his lawyer Jeffry House said he would ask...

ORONTO (AP) - The Canadian government on Thursday denied refugee status to former U.S. Army paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman, a major blow to a handful of U.S. military deserters who have fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. The decision could affect at least eight - and possibly dozens more - American soldiers seeking refuge in Canada, yet help improve strained relations between Washington and Ottawa.

Canada must deny refugee status to U.S. soldierRondi Adamson March 24, 2005 You could randomly grab someone off any street in t Sudan, and be fairly certain that person would make a better refugee than Jeremy Hinzman. Hinzman is one of six American soldiers (as far as we know) who have deserted to Canada in the past two years. All voluntarily joined the army and then balked at facing the consequences of that decision. All have found a haven, one hopes only temporary, in the doughy, sanctimonious arms of their northern neighbour. Hinzman found a lawyer — a draft dodger...

SHERBORN, Mass. -- A soldier who was court-martialed for desertion after refusing to return to Iraq will be honored Tuesday night by a Massachusetts organization. The Peace Abbey in Sherborn will present Camilo Mejia with its Courage of Conscience Award. The former staff sergeant for the Florida National Guard served nearly a year in jail following his conviction by a military jury last spring. Mejia served seven months in Iraq in 2003, but did not return to his unit after a two-week leave. Five months after he went missing, Mejia surrendered to military authorities at the Hanscom Air Force base....

They refused to fight Bush’s war for oil By Alan Maass | February 25, 2005 | CAMILO MEJIA is free after going to jail for the “crime” of resisting the U.S. war for oil and empire in Iraq. Mejia was freed February 15 from a military prison where he was serving a one-year sentence following his conviction for desertion. As a staff sergeant in the Florida National Guard, Mejia was part of the invasion of Iraq. After a two-week furlough in October 2003, he refused to go back to his unit in Iraq because he believed the war was unjust....