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COURAGE TO RESIST is a new group of concerned community members,
veterans, and military families organizing support for military objectors to illegal
war, occupation, and the underlying policies of empire. We have adopted a people
power strategy to weaken the pillars that support the Iraq war and occupation by
supporting GI resistance, which together with counter-recruitment and draft
resistance work can remove the supply of obedient troops.

PEOPLE POWER is the strategy that has toppled dictators from Serbia to
the Philippines so why not in the United States? People power strategies could not
only stop the war in Iraq but also inspire our movements for change by helping us
relearn to govern ourselves and be truly free.

For more info on People Power Strategy:
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/21298/


SUPPORT KEVIN BENDERMAN AS HE FACES COURT MARTIAL


We are writing to you today to urge you to support Kevin Benderman as he faces
court martial on July 28, 2005 for following his conscience and refusing to participate
in the illegal war and occupation of Iraq. The details of Kevin's case can be read
below.

Consider holding a support rally for Kevin in your local community,
sending a message of support from your group, making a donation to Kevin's defense,
and/or sending a letter of support for Kevin and his right to object to Secretary of
Defense Rumsfeld.
(please visit: http://www.bendermandefense.org)

It is imperative that we in the anti-war movement embrace and support
these courageous soldiers in their struggle to resist. The G.I.
Resistance Movement was instrumental in shifting public opinion and ending the
Vietnam War.

A National Day of Action on May 10th organized by Courage To Resist in support of
Military Resisters, spurred solidarity actions in over 20 cities. These actions,
along with
3 subsequent days of events in San Diego, where Naval officer Pablo Paredes faced
court martial, were influential in Pablo receiving a reduced sentence.

A real show of support from the anti-war movement could potentially
inspire and encourage more soldiers to resist publicly.
The Department of Defense is currently reporting over 6,000 A.W.O.L. soldiers.

For reports on the May 10 National Day of Action and updates on Pablo
Paredes go to:
http://www.CourageToResist.org


KEVIN BENDERMAN TO FACE COURT MARTIAL JULY 28, 2005

After serving in the military for eight years, including a tour of duty
in Iraq, Kevin Benderman filed for conscientious objector status in December 2004.
His application was quickly denied, and on the weekend of Jan. 7, 2005
Benderman refused to re-deploy to Iraq with his unit.

"As I went through the process which led to my decision to refuse
deployment to Iraq for the second time, I was torn between thoughts of
abandoning the soldiers that I serve with, or following my conscience,
which tells me: war is the ultimate in destruction and waste of
humanity." As stated in Benderman's article "A Matter of Conscience."

Subsequently Sgt. Benderman was charged with Desertion and Missing
Movement by Design (Articles 85 and 87 in the Uniform Code of Military
Justice).

On May 11 the Article 32 investigative hearing (military equivalent of a pretrial
hearing)
was overturned. The judge ruled the presiding officer had shown bias in his
investigation and ordered a new hearing.

Immediately following this hearing, the same command filed the
additional charges of larceny because Sgt. Benderman, due to an Army error,
had been receiving extra combat pay since his unit had re-deployed to Iraq.
Seven other members of his unit were also receiving extra pay due to an Army error.
None other than Benderman has been charged with larceny.

On Wednesday May 25 the military filed a new Article 32 court martial against Kevin.
The Investigating Officer for the new Article 32 hearing STRONGLY recommended
dismissal of the "larceny" charge, citing the fact
that it was an accounting error that was rampant throughout Ft.
Stewart. The Army continues ahead with the larceny charge anyway.
As far as the other charges of Desertion and Missing Movement by
Design, he recommended that they both go forward to General Court-Martial,
but with qualifications on the Desertion charge.
The General Court Martial date is set for July 28.



"One Soldier's Fight to Legalize Morality"
Monica Benderman
July 7, 2005

On July 28, 2005, in a small non-descript courtroom on Ft. Stewart, Georgia,
a Courts Martial is scheduled to begin. Again. One Army NCO who decided
that he had no choice but to make a conscious choice NOT to return to war is
being put on trial for caring about humanity.

This soldier fulfilled his commitment, he kept his promise to his enlisted
contract, and when ordered to deploy to Iraq at the start of the invasion,
he went, not because he wanted to "kill Iraqis" or "destroy terrorist
cells," but because he wanted the soldiers he served with to come home
safely. 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.

Sgt. Kevin Benderman, after serving one tour of duty in Iraq, filed for
Conscientious Objector status, his Constitutional right. His commander
refused to accept his application and one called him a coward. One chaplain
was ashamed of his lack of moral fortitude, another, of higher rank,
testified to the true sincerity of Sgt. Benderman's beliefs, in writing. A
military intelligence officer decided that he knew matters of the soul
better than a man of God, and recommended to deny the CO claim. Five
commissioned officers who had never met Sgt. Benderman agreed with the
"intelligent officer" and the claim was denied, twice.

More than two weeks after my husband was placed in the Rear Detachment unit
here at Ft. Stewart, charges of Missing Movement and Desertion were filed
against him, even though he has never missed a single day of duty in almost
ten years. At the first Courts Martial proceedings, the investigative
hearing was over turned. According to the judge's decision, the presiding
officer had shown implied bias toward Sgt. Benderman, and a new hearing was
ordered. As the session adjourned, the same command that brought the first
charges were marching up the aisle in the courtroom to file a new charge,
Larceny, against Sgt. Benderman. The command that brought the charge, had
erroneously ordered combat pay to be paid to Sgt. Benderman, along with 7
other soldiers in their unit. Rather than accept their responsibility for
the error, these leaders chose to punish Sgt. Benderman for the mistake, and
have yet to discipline any of the remaining soldiers for the officers'
gaffe.

The new investigating officer strongly recommended dismissing this larceny
charge, but the convening authority, Ft. Stewart's garrison commander,
pressed on and filed the charges anyway, along with desertion and missing
movement. The Courts Martial is scheduled to begin on July 28. The games
began in January.

At the conclusion of the first hearing, I returned to the courtroom briefly
for some things I had forgotten. The lights were dimmed, and no one was
there. This small dark room, vintage WW II, had a reverent calm. Desks and
chairs sat waiting, slightly turned, empty jurist panel, attorney's podium &
the stage had been set. I look back on it now, and the feeling is strangely
surreal.

Last week we learned that the United States Supreme Court allows itself to
keep the Ten Commandments hanging on the walls of its chambers, as a
testimony to another form of law. The guardian of the Constitution of our
country, presiding over the human rights of our people, maintains that the
Ten Commandments, religious context aside, represent a form of law that is
powerful enough to occupy a place in its chambers.

In a small, quiet courtroom, on the Ft. Stewart military installation, the
stage is set. One soldier who, after firsthand experience with the
destructive force of war, decided to take the Ten Commandments at their
word & "Thou Shall Not Kill" & and use the rights given to him to declare
his conscious objection to war, to no longer be in a position to voluntarily
have to kill another human being, is now on trial for not wanting to kill.

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.

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.

A sixteen year old in New York, was charged with involuntary manslaughter
yesterday for stabbing another teen in the chest twice, over a computer
game. There is no question of why. He broke a law & a legal, MORAL law &
"Thou Shall Not Kill."

After seeing war firsthand, Sgt. Kevin Benderman chose to follow a legal,
MORAL law & "Thou Shall Not Kill." A form of law significant enough to be
represented on the walls of our Supreme Court. The US Army cannot let him
go. I have to ask & "WHY?"


Monica Benderman
mdawnb@coastalnow.net

Sgt. Kevin Benderman is stationed at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. He has served on
combat tour in Iraq. After seeing war firsthand, he made the decision to
file for Conscientious Objector status in December, 2004. His command
refused the request, and filed charges of Missing Movement and Desertion
against him. They have since added a charge of Larceny. Sgt. Benderman is
scheduled to face a second attempt at Courts Martial for these charges on
July 28, and Ft. Stewart.

For more information:
http://www.BendermanDefense.org


http://www.CouragetoResist.org