Interview with Iraq War Resister Kimberly Rivera, on trial next week for having taken refuge in Canada
Please help us provide humanitarian assistance to these courageous objectors with your contribution to the Rivera Family Support Fund today! By Bob Meola, Courage to Resist. April 23, 2013 Kimberly Rivera is at Fort Carson, Colorado, awaiting the April 29th start of her Army court martial trial for two specifications of one count of desertion. I asked Kimberly to talk about her present situation, and her thoughts and feelings as her trial nears next week. Here is Kimberly Rivera in her own words:
“I am being charged with Desertion with the intent to stay away and with shirking hazardous duty. I feel that it shouldn't have to come to this or to any negative result for people to leave. If you are morally against what you are doing and don't believe in what you are doing, if you can't in your heart be able to harm another person but yourself… there should be a way out for people. I will be facing a sentence that is up to the judge and could be up to 5 years from what I know. My PTSD has been bad at times. In Canada I was doing community volunteer work that helped me cope with it and calm me. I was helping in soup kitchens, working in the community garden and was active in my kids’ school. I also had counseling after my medication was not working properly and I went to art workshops... “To this day, I can't handle or hold a weapon without breaking into severe anxiety and nervousness. Since being back in the army, I just go to work every day. Just playing soldier has been bringing up my anxiety. It has gotten worse as my trial gets closer. For a while, they had me clearing weapons and that just made me more nervous and increased my anxiety. They were having us clear them and test them for maintenance and malfunctions. One day, I almost passed out, clearing weapons... “When I saw the little girl [in Iraq] shaking in fear, in fear of me, because of my uniform, I couldn't fathom what she had been through and all I saw was my little girl and I just wanted to hold her and comfort her. But I knew I couldn't. It broke my heart. I am against hurting anyone…what I saw and felt and knew was that when it came down to it, I would not be able to harm anyone else, not for any reason. I would harm myself first. I felt this also made me a liability to my unit and I could not let me be a reason for anyone to be harmed---so I left. Read more...
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