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Military Misdeeds

Back from the fighting, a US vet tells all and refuses to serve

Camilo Mejia joined the Army in 1995 to get college assistance and new experiences. Following a three-year hitch, he joined the Florida National Guard, partly for promised tuition assistance at Florida’s state universities. Mejia, a Nicaraguan citizen, had moved permanently to Miami with his mother when he was 18 years old and is a permanent resident with a green card.


On March 15, 2004, after six months’ duty in Iraq, Staff Sergeant Mejia decided to leave the military and talk about what he saw. His first engagement was a public rally and press conference at the Peace Abbey near Boston, MA. The next day, he submitted a formal application for discharge as a conscientious objector (CO) to Maj. General William G. Webster, Jr., commanding general of Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Mejia provided details of the torture and abuse of detainees he witnessed at Al Assad prison, adjacent to Baghdad’s International airport, in early May 2003.
After his CO application was filed, no one from General Webster’s staff contacted Mejia regarding his allegations. Facing court martial for desertion of duty in Iraq, Mejia based his defense partially on international law violations he witnessed when his unit mistreated Iraqi detainees five months before the period covered by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba’s May 2004 report on Army torture at Abu Ghraib prison.
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Outsourcing Defense

The Quiet Rise of National Security, Inc.

 

Four years ago, candidate George W. Bush promised to make government more efficient, lean, and responsive by looking at whether some federal agencies should be privatized or abolished. On the record, the plan was to start with almost one million federal positions, those said to be “commercially replaceable,” and open them up for private bidding. Shortly after taking office, he took the idea a step further, stating his preference for privatized peacekeeping operations. read more

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Summer 2004, Stubborn Facts

 Volume 52, Number 2

STUBBORN FACTS
The new print edition includes a TF investigation of Computer Sciences Corp. — new leader in military-intelligence outsourcing, plus details on 28 Washington insiders who have broken with Bush on Iraq, the startling story of a US soldier who refused to serve, and an exclusive interview with Ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern. We also look at life inside North Korea and Iran, examine how Texas prisons restrict contact with the media, and present proposals for transnational itizenship and a democratic investment system. Plus, thoughts on collective guilt and news from around the world. Take a peek below.
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