Posted on 02/16/2003 1:12:10 AM PST by kattracks
Ghanim Khalil doesn't want to break the law, but says he may be forced to.
The 26-year-old Army National Guard reservist said yesterday that if he's called up to help fight Iraq in the coming weeks, he'll refuse to go.
"If I'm asked to go to the Middle East, I will not," Khalil, of Staten Island, said at a news conference yesterday before he headed over to the anti-war rally near the United Nations.
"I believe if this war occurs, it is a violation of human rights," added Khalil, a Muslim with Pakistani roots.
Khalil, a supply specialist, said he has been given no date for when his unit at the Marcy Ave. Armory in Brooklyn might be called up.
"I've been told that it's only a matter of time," he said.
Khalil sat with members of the advocacy group Citizen Soldier, some of whom are veterans of past wars who are opposed to another Iraqi conflict.
Khalil, who spent four years on active duty with the Marines, said some of his opposition stems from his religious beliefs.
"As a Muslim, I have objections" to the war, he said.
But he called his protests universal, saying people of all faiths have spoken out against Persian Gulf War II.
Khalil said he realized he could go to jail if he refuses to follow orders ? but that he's within his legal rights to speak out against the war.
National Guard spokesman Col. Dan Stoneking wouldn't comment on Khalil specifically, saying, "All Americans have First Amendment rights," but that reservists who won't serve would be sanctioned.
You won't be asked to go, Khalil.
Just like you won't be asked to put your hands behind your back just before they put the cuffs on.
Education money. He was on Fox News today.
He said something about not wanting to go to an immoral war to kill 500,000 civilians.
There were lots of cases where President Clinton ordered military action that I disagreed with and I'm sure many service members did, too. But they followed orders, because the value of preserving our system and our Constitution outweighs any bumps in the road from the occasional bad phases of history where we have a bad CIC.
And any "Muslim" who doesn't agree with that isn't an American.
Ah, but....Even High School drop-outs will qualify for jobs before this guy would be considered. He's making his bed, hope he's ready to sleep in it, or it's back to Pakistan for him and a life of trying to scratch a living from the rocky soil on half-rations of government rice and curry.
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