Note: Another one that realizes he was played for a dupe by BushCo.

US soldier refuses to serve in 'illegal Iraq war'

Published: Friday May 16, 2008

Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters love.

"I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school," the now 24-year-old told AFP.

"I was 'filet mignon' for recruiters. They started phoning me when I was in 10th grade," or around 16 years old, he added.

Chiroux joined the US army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant.

He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and was due to be deployed next month in Iraq.

On Thursday, he refused to go, saying he considers Iraq an illegal war.

"I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq," Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington.

"My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation... I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation," he said, as a dozen veterans of the five-year-old Iraq war looked on.

Minutes earlier, Chiroux had cried openly as he listened to former comrades-in-arms testify before members of Congress about the failings of the Iraq war.

The testimonies were the first before Congress by Iraq veterans who have turned against the five-year-old war.

Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith told a half-dozen US lawmakers and scores of people who packed into a small hearing room of "lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis."

He spoke of the psychologically fragile men and women who return from Iraq, to find little help or treatment offered from official circles.

Goldsmith said he had "self-medicated" for several months to treat the wounds of the war.

Another soldier told AFP he had to boost his dosage of medication to treat anxiety and social agoraphobia -- two of many lingering mental wounds he carries since his deployments in Iraq -- before testifying.

Some 300,000 of the 1.6 million US soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from the psychological traumas of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or both, an independent study showed last month.

A group of veterans sitting in the hearing room gazed blankly as their comrades' testimonies shattered the official version that the US effort in Iraq is succeeding.

Almost to a man, the soldiers who testified denounced serious flaws in the chain of command in Iraq.

Luis Montalvan, a former army captain, accused high-ranking US officers of numerous failures in Iraq, including turning a blind eye to massive fraud on the part of US contractors.

Ex-Marine Jason Lemieux told how a senior officer had altered a report he had written because it slammed US troops of using excessive force, firing off thousands of rounds of machine gun fire and hundreds of grenades in the face of a feeble four rounds of enemy fire.

Goldsmith accused US officials of censorship.

"Everyone who manages a blog, Facebook or Myspace out of Iraq has to register every video, picture, document of any event they do on mission," Goldsmith told AFP after the hearing.

"You're almost always denied before you are allowed to send them home."

Officials take "hard facts and slice them into small pieces to make them presentable to the secretary of state or the president -- and all with the intent of furthering the occupation of Iraq," Goldsmith added.

Chiroux is one of thousands of US soldiers who have deserted since the Iraq war began in 2003, according to figures issued last year by the US army.

But while many seek refuge in Canada, the young soldier vowed to stay in the United States to fight "whatever charges the army levels at me."

The US army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for 30 days.

Chiroux stood fast in his resolve to not report for duty on June 15.

"I cannot deploy to Iraq, carry a weapon and not be part of the problem," he told AFP.

he needs to be shot, shot by Firing Squad. He is a Traitor to the Nation.

HellFire:

he needs to be shot, shot by Firing Squad. He is a Traitor to the Nation.

Your a f*cking moron! The true traitors to America are the LYING SOB's that perpetraited the lie that is Iraq.

Why don't you take his place "sissy boy?"

bloodthirsty motherfucker. We are all traitors in your eyes...it's nonsense. He's served and fought your precious war...and is done. He isn't deserting, he isn't a selling secrets or assisting the enemy. He's standing up for his beliefs, and you can court martial him, but you can't kill him.

YTH

which is a Capital Offense, and he is giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy, by stating he will not fight in a War he views as wrong..... as well as Failure to obey an order or regulation/disobeying a lawful command from his Superior Officer, Punishable by Death in time of war.

Engaged in Seditious activity... Punishable by Death in time of War..... and is causing insubordination, disloyalty, as well as refusal of duty.

Sorry, you are wrong, he signed the contract he doesn't get to pick and choose. Not only that but he reenlisted and took the bonus money. And he knew this deployment was coming when he reenlisted and got his bonus, so all this is just another piece of sophistry. He should be given a BCD, and made to repay his bonus money.

Jackg

A coward? Nonsense. He fought in Afghanistan, so he clearly isn't a coward.

You just want to kill people...He is but one of thousands of over done over wrought soldiers (thought you LOVED the Vets) who are sick and tired of the BS. Actual desertion rates are high and growing...desertion meaning abandoning your post.

You no doubt know the last US Soldier executed for desertion...so, your bloodlust is beyond the pale.

execute is illegal and/or immoral, by his lights, he has the right to refuse an order. The rationale being that the Army has defaulted on its performance of the contract by asking him to do thus.

That's a right reserved to every servicemember, with exceptions for orders given in the heat of battle. Notice that the sargeant was honorable enough to not refuse any orders given in combat.

His got a valid argument. I hope he wins. It is not an honorable, and possibly an illegal war; only citizens can make a difference -- in the voting booth, and as this fellow has done, by refusing to comply. It's the genius of the US system. You would try to turn it into totaiatarianism -- but there will always be citizens who are brave enough to stand up to the powers that be.

That's what I like about the US.

Wrong, desertion rates are about normal for a war time period. I think the last person to be executed for desertion in the face of the enemy was during WWII.

So he has made his stand, and this falls into the category of don't let your hummingbird mouth say anything your whippoorwill ass can't handle. He pays back the money, gets a Bad Conduct Discharge and maybe does 6 mos in the brig (stockade in the Army).

You are attaching to much significance to one man.

jackg

You're an hysterical old woman. I wouldn't want to be with you on a battlefield.

Yes, Private Eddie Slovak...I'm not attaching any importance to the man other than that he's brave and principled and will fight for what he believes is right.

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WASHINGTON: After six years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, American soldiers are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980. The number of US Army deserters this year shows an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

The totals remain far lower than they were during the Vietnam War, when conscription was in effect, but they show a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.

"We're asking a lot of soldiers these days," said Roy Wallace, director of plans and resources for Army personnel. "They're humans. They have all sorts of issues back home and other places like that. So, I'm sure it has to do with the stress of being a soldier."

The Army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for longer than 30 days. The soldier is then discharged as a deserter.

According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared with nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year, compared with 3,301 last year.

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The Army has had to bear the brunt of the war demands as many soldiers served repeated, lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military leaders — including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey — have acknowledged that the Army has been stretched nearly to the breaking point by the combat. Efforts are under way to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the burden and give troops more time off between deployments.

"We have been concentrating on this," said Wallace. "The Army can't afford to throw away good people. We have got to work with those individuals and try to help them become good soldiers."

Still, he noted that "the military is not for everybody; not everybody can be a soldier." And those who want to leave the service will find a way to do it, he said.

While the Army does not have an up-to-date profile of deserters, more than 75 percent of them are soldiers in their first term of enlistment, and most are male.

Soldiers can sign on initially for two to six years. Wallace said he did not know whether deserters were more likely to be those who enlisted for a short or long tour.

At the same time, he said that even as desertions have increased, the Army has seen some overall success in keeping first-term soldiers in the service.

So in general we can say the increase that you are flogging is from 7 to 9 per thousand and increase of 2.

When it is the Marines that are deserting than I will consider it a problem, until then it is just another statistical circle jerk, with you as the pivot man.

jackg

I would be shocked..... and if you ever stepped foot on any Battlefield I was on, I would shot you myself..... you Anti-American Piece of Shit.

What am I flogging? I was in a discussion about deserters...and sought some facts. Soldiers are soldiers. Sure I get the Marine stuff, they can kill ya with their hands...as I've said, one of my best buds is a jar. Semper Fi. Part of the Army rates can be attributed to the loosening of the standards.

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Highest rate since 1980.

42% jump from last year.

The .002 increase totals just under 1,600 soldiers.