WASHINGTON - June 16 -

EHREN WATADA
Available for a limited number of interviews, First Lt. Watada is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to deploy to the war in Iraq. He said today: "I am wholeheartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership." He stated at a news conference on June 7: "My oath of office is to serve and protect America's laws and its people. By refusing an unlawful order for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath today." Video from that news conference is available at: ThankYouLt.org. Watada's "Stryker Brigade" deploys to Iraq in the coming week.


MARJORIE COHN
Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild, Cohn spoke at the news conference with Watada. She wrote the article "First Officer Publicly Resists War."
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MONICA BENDERMAN
Monica Benderman is the wife of Sgt. Kevin Benderman, who is currently in a military prison. At a recent Congressional briefing about conscientious objection, she stated: "My husband went to war. He saw mass graves filled with dead bodies of old people, women and children. He watched dogs feeding on their bodies. ... When he returned home, my husband and I wrote publicly about our feelings for this and all war. ... My husband took the course available to him and filed a Conscientious Objector application.

"His command, in an effort to punish him for his humanity, and because they could not do so for the public comments that he and I had made, chose to disregard his application, and ... found a way to put him in prison. ... My husband violated no regulations. His command violated many. The command's flagrant disregard for military regulations and laws of humanity sent my husband to jail as a prisoner of conscience."
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ANN WRIGHT
Wright is a retired Army Colonel and former State Department diplomat. After 16 years in the diplomatic corps, she resigned in May 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She said today: "I was in the military for 29 years and what many soldiers are doing today is just extraordinary. When I resigned from the diplomatic corps, there were no ill effects on me other than quitting a job. But many of these soldiers are risking a great deal for their principles."
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DAVID ZEIGER
Zeiger is producer and director of "Sir, No Sir," a film about active duty soldiers who resisted the Vietnam War. He said today: "Soldiers today are facing many of the same issues U.S. soldiers faced during the Vietnam War: being an occupying army in a Third World country; being part of a war with justifications that were a lie and with a growing number of people back in the U.S. opposed to the war. GI's during the Vietnam War responded in ways which have been largely erased from history."
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