18 May 2004

by Anai Rhoads

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AnaiRhoads.org - Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia may face a one-year prison sentence for abandoning his unit in Iraq.

Mejia left Iraq in October 2003 on a two-week furlough to visit family in Florida, but says he couldn't bare to return to Iraq. Mejia was unhappy with the condition in the war-torn country and felt it was immoral to fight innocent Iraqi's over a lust for oil.

He submitted himself to the Army in March 2004. The 28 year-old infantryman also now faces a desertion charge if convicted at the Fort Stewart base in Miami, Florida.

Mejia conducted television interviews during the five months that he was in hiding. He expressed concern over the legalities and purpose of this war.

"When you look at the war, and you look at the reasons that took us to war, and you don't find that any of the things that we were told that we're going to war for turned out to be true, when you don't find there are weapons of mass destruction, and when you don't find that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and you see that you're not helping the people and the people don't want you there," Mejia told CBSnews corresponder Dan Rather during a 60 minutes II interview earlier this year. "To me, there's no military contract and no military duty that's going to justify being a part of that war."

Mejia said he did not regret his decision to go AWOL. When Rather asked Mejia if he felt he deserted the men and women in his unit, he said, "I have not deserted the military. I have not been disloyal to the men and women of the military. I have not been disloyal to a country. I have only been loyal to my principles," says Mejia. "And I think that gives me the right to decide not to be a part of something that I consider criminal. I realise I have a duty to the military and I'm going to face that duty. And I'm going to face my responsibility."

"I would say this war is not about America. This war is not about safety. This war is not about freedom. This war should not be paid with the blood of American soldiers," says Mejia. "And if I do end up paying with jail, then at least I'll know that it was for the right decision."

On 16 March, Mejia submitted a formal application for discharge as a conscientious objector to Major General William G. Webster, Jr., Commanding General as he turned himself in. Mejia also filed statements on the same day, citing that he witnessed Iraqi prisoners being severely maltreated at the Iraqi air base, al-Assad. He filed just days before the Abu Ghraib prison photographs leaked to the press.

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