Benderman served in Iraq from March to September 2003 with the 4th
Infantry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas.
When he later transferred to the 3rd Infantry at Fort Stewart,
Benderman said, he was already questioning the morality of the
destruction he had witnessed.
"You can sit around your house and discuss this thing in abstract
terms, but until you see and experience it for yourself, you just
don't know how bad it is," he said.
"How is it an honorable thing to teach a kid how to look through the
sights of a rifle and kill another human being? War is the ultimate in
violence and it is indiscriminate."
From The Associated Press, 1/13/05:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Objecting%20Soldier
War veteran refuses 2nd Iraq deployment
By RUSS BYNUM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAVANNAH, Ga. --
A mechanic with nine years in the Army, including a role in the
assault on Baghdad, has refused to return to Iraq, claiming "you just
don't know how bad it is."
Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, said he became morally opposed to war after
seeing it firsthand during his first Iraq tour.
Now he faces a possible court-martial after failing to deploy Friday
with his unit.
"I told them that I refused deployment because I just couldn't go back
over there," Benderman said Wednesday.
"If I'm going to sit up there and tell everyone that I do not believe
in war, why would I go back to a war zone?"
________________________________________________________
Have you read about how George W. Bush deserted during the Vietnam
War?
http://www.glcq.com/bush_at_arpc1.htm
Harry
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