Conviction

Democracy Now!:

Agustin Aguayo, Army medic who was released from military prison last month after serving more than seven months for refusing a second deployment to Iraq:

Yes, I could say that, unfortunately, the environment there creates a situation where conscience, your sense of right and wrong, gets clouded by what’s going on around you. You’re in survival mode. And this results in people acting in all sorts of unethical ways. I spoke to a master sergeant while I was in prison, and I shared with him my feelings. And he said, “I can understand you. I mean, the Army could potentially ask you to do some unethical things at this time, and, unfortunately, many of our young people are in this situation. They just want to survive.” And like I said, that sense of right and wrong gets clouded in that environment.

If this is truly the case with the majority of U.S. forces in Iraq, military and non military, then a state of endgame exists and the only sane course of action open is that of complete withdrawal as soon as possible. At this point, one can accurately surmise that the priorities of the forces in place no longer place the welfare of the Iraqi people and state in a high position. As has been stated before, the situation in Iraq is going to get worse before it gets better, perhaps over the next several years, whether the US is there or not. If the US stays, it is likely that it will get worse in greater orders of magnitude than if they leave.

Despite the fact that his post military prospects are severely limited now, Aguayo goes on:

I was found guilty of two charges, which is desertion and missing movement. And I have to carry that with me from now on. And I’m willing to do that, because I stood up for what I believed. So the implications are rather great, but it’s something I’m willing to live with, because I saved my integrity, and I was truly free when I stood up and I finally said, “I cannot participate anymore, and I’m willing to accept any consequences.”

Are these the same Freedoms that the Shrub and his administration are touting as those that the terrorists so despise it spurred them to attack us? The freedom to follow the stirrings of one's heart and soul? Not likely, since they (the terrorists and the administration, although it could be argued that they are both of animals of the same stripe) are enjoying the same freedoms in their actions throughout the world, albeit with completely different intentions and results than Aguayo...