January 15, 2004

Sgt. Kevin Benderman:
The only way to achieve world peace is to allow people
to decide their own future, a U.S. sergeant said

A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/01/16/interna/articulo10.html 

Washington, January 15 (PL) - A U.S. sergeant said that he refused to return to Iraq after realizing the genocide of the Iraqi people and called for an end to conflicts in the world, an Antiwar website reported today.

Kevin Benderman explains in a letter written during the invasion of the Arab nation in March of 2003 that he was able to see "the effects wars have on people".

He points out that during the march to Baghdad, some Iraqi asked for food and water but that his commander forbade it although the army had sufficient food supplies.

Another time I asked a physician to help a girl with burns, even saying that I would donate my part of medicines, but they ignored here, he added

Benderman explains that once his chief ordered soldiers to fire on Iraqi children if they tried to climb the barracks walls.

I was in charge of a group of young soldiers and had to control them because they thought this war was like in the videos, he describes.

In his opinion, "wars should be sent to the history shelves as were human sacrifice … War has to be considered the absolute enemy of humanity".

There is no honor to kill so many people, the sergeant stresses, now, possibly facing a court martial for declaring him a conscientious objector.

The United States is a civilized country that considers the rest of the world is not but are we more civilized if we are more developed? The answer is no, he stresses.

Benderman calls on the U.S. government to invest more in health, in education and social security instead of launching invasions.

I have spoken to veterans of the II World War and they said that it should have been the last conflict in the world, he added.

How long will we have to battle to understand that war is waged to satisfy the needs of a small group of persons, the soldier said.

He expressed that the only way to achieve world peace was to allow persons to decide there own future.

I was in the war zone and observed the devastation it causes. Why can't we all agree that a conflict is the most repulsive of human efforts? he asks.

La única manera de lograr la paz mundial
es permitir a las personas decidir su propio destino,
dice sargento estadounidense

WASHINGTON, 15 de enero (PL).— Un sargento estadounidense afirmó que se negó a volver a Iraq tras constatar el genocidio contra el pueblo iraquí al tiempo que llamó a poner fin a los conflictos en el mundo, informa hoy el sitio web Antiwar.

Kevin Benderman señala en una carta que durante la invasión al país árabe, en marzo de 2003, comprobó "los efectos que hace las guerras en las personas".

Detalla que en la marcha hacia Bagdad, algunos iraquíes pedían alimentos y agua, pero el comandante de su unidad lo prohibió, pese a que el ejército tenía bastantes víveres.

En otro caso, solicité a los galenos ayudar a una muchacha con quemaduras, incluso comenté que donaría mi porción médica, pero la ignoraron, señala.

Benderman explica que en una ocasión su jefe ordenó a los soldados disparar a los niños iraquíes si intentaban escalar las paredes del cuartel.

Yo estaba al cargo de un grupo de jóvenes soldados y tenía que controlar sus impulsos pues creían que esta conflagración era como en los vídeos, describe.

En su opinión, "la guerra debe relegarse a los estantes de historia, como era el sacrificio humano.... La guerra tiene que ser considerada el enemigo absoluto de humanidad".

No hay ningún honor matando a tantas personas, subraya el sargento, quien se enfrenta a una posible corte marcial, tras declararse objetor de conciencia.

Estados Unidos se dice un país civilizado y considera que gran parte del mundo no lo es, pero porque seamos más desarrollados somos más civilizados, pienso que la respuesta es negativa, apunta.

Benderman llama al gobierno norteamericano a invertir más en la salud, en la educación para los niños y en el seguro social en lugar de lanzar invasiones.

He conversado con veteranos de la II Guerra Mundial y me comentaron que esa debió ser el último conflicto en el mundo, detalló.

Cuantos más vamos a combatir antes de comprender que la guerra es para satisfacer las necesidades de un pequeño grupo de personas, expresa el militar.

Expresó que la única manera de lograr la paz mundial es permitir a las personas decidir su propio destino.

Estuve en zonas de guerra y comprobé la devastación que causa. ¿Por qué todos no podemos estar de acuerdo en que un conflicto es el más repugnante de los esfuerzos humanos?, pregunta.

==============================================
July 29, 2005 
In Praise of Kevin Benderman
http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon07292005.html
By Norman Solomon

Conscience is not in the chain of command.

“Before being sentenced to 15 months for refusing to return to Iraq with his Army unit, Sgt. Kevin Benderman told a military judge that he acted with his conscience, not out of a disregard for duty,” the Associated Press reports. Benderman, a 40-year-old Army mechanic, “refused to go on a second combat tour in January, saying the destruction and misery he witnessed during the 2003 Iraq invasion had turned him against war.”

Three weeks ago, his wife Monica Benderman wrote: “He returned knowing that war is wrong, the most dehumanizing creation of humanity that exists. He saw war destroy civilians, innocent men, women and children. He saw war destroy homes, relationships and a country. He saw this not only in the country that was invaded, but he saw this happening to the invading country as well -- and he knew that the only way to save those soldiers was for people to no longer participate in war. Sgt. Kevin Benderman is a Conscientious Objector to war, and the Army is mad.”

On Thursday, at his court-martial, Kevin Benderman spoke. “Though some might take my actions as being against soldiers, I want everyone to be home and safe and raising their families,” he said. “I don't want anyone to be hurt in a combat zone.”

But the Pentagon is imposing its power to enforce the unconscionable. And words that were written by Monica Benderman in early July are now even more true: “The Army has removed itself so completely from its moral responsibility, that its representatives are willing to openly demand, in a court of law, that they be allowed to regain ‘positive control over this soldier’ by finding him guilty of crimes he did not commit, and put him in jail -- a prisoner of conscience, for daring to obey a moral law.”

And, she added: “It is ‘hard work’ to face the truth, and it is scary when people who are not afraid to face it begin to speak out. Someone once said that my husband’s case is a question of morality over legality. I pray that this country has not gone so far over the edge that the two are so distinctly different that we can tell them apart.”

Monica Benderman is correct. Facing truths about the priorities of our country’s government can be very difficult. During the Vietnam War -- also based on lies, also methodically murderous -- an extraordinary U.S. senator made the same basic point. “We’re going to become guilty, in my judgment, of being the greatest threat to the peace of the world,” Wayne Morse said at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It’s an ugly reality, and we Americans don’t like to face up to it.”

Moments before the Senate hearing adjourned, on February 27, 1968, Morse said that he did not “intend to put the blood of this war on my hands.” In the summer of 2005, while the horrors of the Iraq war continue, not a single United States senator is willing to speak with such moral clarity.

As an astute cliche says, truth is the first casualty of war. But another early casualty is conscience, routinely smothered in the national media echo chamber.

On the TV networks, the voices are usually smooth, and people often seem to be speaking loudly. In contrast, the human conscience is close to a whisper. Easily unheard.

Rarely explored in news media, the capacity for conscience makes us human. Out of all the differences between people and other animals, Darwin wrote, “the moral sense of conscience is by far the most important.”

And that’s why Kevin Benderman, now in prison, is providing greater moral leadership than any member of the United States Senate.

________________________________

Norman Solomon is the author of the new book “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” Excerpts are posted at: www.WarMadeEasy.com