Conscientous Obejction: The Camilo Story

Two weeks ago I went to see the new movie "Stop-Loss" starring Ryan Phillippe and Channing Tatum. The movie tells the story of a soldier who served his tours in Iraq and whose contract ran up with the army until he was stop-lossed and told to go back to Iraq. I knew little about the stop-loss policy in the army, and learned that it is one of those "small print" things on the contract that allows the army to send you back to duty even when your contract is up. I found the movie really upsetting, but very, very well done. It reminded me very much of a song by my favorite band State Radio called Camilo. Camilo tells the story of a soldier who went AWOL due to objections with the war and subsequently spent a year in prison. It is an incredibly moving song and I will include the lyrics and the video below.

Before I get into that story I would like to define the term conscientious objectior in order to better understand what it really means. We read several pieces for our discussion of war that included the concept of conscientious objectors, but just to refresh everyone's memory. A conscientious objector is "an individual who, on religious, moral or ethical grounds, refuses to participate as a combatant in war or, in some cases, to take any role that would support a combatant organization armed forces. In the first case, conscientious objectors may be willing to accept non-combatant roles during conscription or military service. In the second case, the CO objects to any role within armed forces and results in complete rejection of conscription or military service and, in some countries, assignment to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service." It is also important to note that in some cases, like Camilo's, a person may initially agree with the war and begin fighting but later realize that the war is unjust and decide on conscientious objection, a decision that is not easily accepted or granted by the military.

Camilo Mejia is a former staff sergeant who spent six months in Iraq and returned home for a 2 week furlough and decided not to return. He had served his eight years of service, and like the movie portrays, was stop-lossed. Camilo went AWOL and was charged with disertion and sent to prison for one year. He turned himself in and filed for conscientious objection status. He claimed that he had to stop fighting based on war crimes, particularly the torture of prisoners. During his time in jail he was recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. He was released from prison in 2005 and wrote a book about his experiences entitled, "Road from Ar Ramadi: The private rebellion of staff sergeant Mejia."

In an article from 2004 entitled AWOL From Iraq, Camilo states,
“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,” says Mejia. “To me, there’s no military contract and no military duty that’s going to justify being a part of that war.”

This is a powerful statement and I think it speaks to a sentiment that is becoming more common among soldiers feeling like they have lost the reasons that they are fighting. The reasons that George Bush outlined for us were lies, this war was waged on deception, not democracy. For Camilo, when these reasons for war turned out to be false, he was not able to continue the torture and crimes against humanity. However, his fellow soldiers were less than sympathetic.

“His duty’s not to question myself or anybody higher than me,” says Warfel. “His duty is to carry out the orders that I give him or his platoon leader gives him. We’re not paid in the military to form personal opinions or to doubt what our leaders say.”

Although I understand that the army is a job and that it must be looked at this way, not all job descriptions require you to sacrifice innate instincts against killing an innocent person. Camilo realized that his duty to his morality and to his faith was more important than his duty to the army. In his book he writes,

"I say without any pride that I did my job as a soldier. I commanded an infantry squad in combat and we never failed to accomplish our mission. But those who called me a coward, without knowing it, are also right. I was a coward not for leaving the war, but for having been a part of it in the first place. Refusing and resisting this war was my moral duty, a moral duty that called me to take a principled action. I failed to fulfill my moral duty as a human being and instead I chose to fulfill my duty as a soldier. All because I was afraid. I was terrified, I did not want to stand up to the government and the army, I was afraid of punishment and humiliation. I went to war because at the moment I was a coward, and for that I apologize to my soldiers for not being the type of leader I should have been."

The article continues,

"Mejia says there’s no doubt in his mind that he broke the law. However, he says he doesn’t consider himself a criminal. “To break the law, the law has to be upheld,” he says.

By that, Mejia says he means the war in Iraq should be considered illegal. He also says he signed a contract to serve eight years with the Army and the National Guard. And he served those eight years.

Then, he says, the Army did what it’s done to thousands of soldiers, and ordered him to serve more time because of the war."

Perhaps what I found most upsetting about the movie Stop-Loss was the fact that the men did return for two weeks and spent time with their families and friends thinking that they would be there for good, that they were done. And then having to find out that this was just a tease, that they were going back to Iraq was devastating to watch. During the interview Camilo was asked if he regreted his decision, he writes,

"But Mejia says he has never regretted his decision to go AWOL, especially, he says, when he starts thinking about the 12 or 13 Iraqis he and his men killed in Ramadi. All of them, he says, were civilians simply caught in the crossfire -- except for one 10-year-old boy with an AK-47, and one adult with a grenade.

“Whether you want to admit it or not to yourself, this is a human being,” says Mejia. “And I saw this man go down and I saw him being dragged through a pool of his own blood and that shocked me.”


And when you ask yourself, which you’re bound to have, for what? Why? What did you answer? Rather asks Mejia.

“That’s the problem. I don’t have an answer, I don’t have a good answer. I cannot say I did it to help the Iraqi people. I cannot say that it was to make America and the world safer. I cannot say that it was for democracy,” Mejia replies. “I cannot say that it was to prevent terrorism. I cannot find a single good reason for having been there and having shot at people and having been shot at.”

This I think is the most telling of the quotes. For this soldier, he could not justify that war that he was fighting, he could not justify killing 12 civilians. And that should not be justified, not in the name of democracy or of keeping America safe. No concrete positive changes have come about from this war, only the psychological scaring of our young people and 90,000 Iraqi civilians dead. That is truly a crime. In the Camilo video below there is a quote from George Bush that states, "I want you to know that when we talk about war, we are really talking about peace." This war is NOT peace. Camilo says,

“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.”

Please watch State Radio's Camilo Video below and Read the lyrics. It is a true testimony to someone who I think exemplifies true heroicism and bravery.


Camilo Lyrics- State Radio
Woke him up with a barrel to his head
His eyes shut tight bracing for the blow
Resigning his life to the metal held
In another man's hand

Twenty days in a concrete fallout
What life have I to take your own
Oh my country won't you call out
Doorbells are ringing with boxes of bones
And from another land's war torn corners
To a prison cell in my own
Punish me for not taking your orders
But don't lock me up for not leavin' my home

Your words just a bloody fallacy
A house of cards you painted white
You tried to recreate Normandy
But you made up the reason to fight
And now red oil is spillin' down on the street
And your eyes too big for the belly is weak
Will you not refuse this currency
Or is blood money just money to you
Is blood money just money to you

Twenty days in a concrete fallout
What life have to take your own
Oh my country won't you call out
Doorbells are ringing with boxes of bones
From another land's war torn corners
To a prison cell in my own
Punish me for not taking your orders
But don't lock me up for not leavin' my home

Camilo
Camilo
Leave him alone
Camilo