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This week on Uprising:
* A Special one-hour conversation with, Camilo Mejía, the first Iraqi War Resister

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Road From Ar Ramadi

GUEST: Camilo Mejía, Iraq War resister, author of “The Road from Ar Ramadi”

In 2003, Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía of the Florida National Guard, was deployed to Iraq along with his unit for six months. While there he struggled with his conscience as he realized that American troops were not wanted in Iraq and that increasingly they were the perpetrators of violence against Iraqi civilians. Mejía, a green-card holder, had been in the military since 1995. When he briefly returned to the US to adjust his immigration status, he decided not to return to Iraq and instead filed for conscientious objector status, becoming the first US soldier to do so. On May 21, 2004 Mejía was convicted of desertion by a military jury and sentenced to a year in jail and a bad conduct discharge. He was released in February 2005, three months early, for good behavior. Upon his release he said, “I was a coward not for leaving the war but for being part of it in the first place.” Camilo Mejía has been touring the U.S. and speaking at various anti-war rallies and has just published his first book through The New Press, “Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejía.”

Camilo was recently visiting Los Angeles where Uprising is recorded, as part of his book tour. I spoke with him about his journey from soldier to antiwar activist and asked him to begin by reading an excerpt from “Road to Ar Ramadi.”

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” — Mahatma Gandhi