Update: PFC Camilo Mejia, imprisoned

Private First Class Camilo Mejia, who refused to return to Iraq where he had previously been a prison guard at the Al Assad prison, is now sentenced to one year in prison, following a court martial. His pleas to become a conscientious objector have not been officially recognized.

Letters to the Commander General who could still shorten Camilo Mejia’s sentence to “time served” can be sent to

Major General William Webster
CG Fort Stewart
42 Wayne Place
Fort Stewart, GA 31314

GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE ARRESTED OVER URANIUM WEAPONS

Thursday, 29 July 2004

Mike Miles, 51, Green Party congressional candidate for the 7th District in northern Wisconsin, was arrested yesterday at Alliant Techsystems (ATK) in Edina, Minnesota. ATK is at the center of controversy for their production of depleted uranium (DU) munitions. ATK is the largest producer of DU weapons in the world.

August 4, 2004
Japan Today
Shinya Ajima and Shinsuke Takahashi

HIROSHIMA - An Iraqi doctor left his war-battered country in April. His destination was Hiroshima, and the purpose of his trip was to obtain knowledge and data on radiation effects in the city once devastated by the first atomic bombing in the world.

Hussam Mahmood Salih, 34, a pediatrician from Basra, said the number of child cancer cases jumped eightfold in the southern Iraqi city between 1988 and 2002, suspecting it was caused by the 1991 Gulf War, in which U.S. forces used depleted uranium shells.

There are also reports in Iraq about newborn babies lacking limbs or craniums. Depleted uranium has been long blamed for such birth defects in babies believed exposed to radiation while in the womb.

“We don’t have any decent facilities in Iraq to check the amount of radiation in human bodies. But we can see the incidences of cancer increased greatly during the first four to five years of the 1990s,” said Salih, now studying at Hiroshima University Hospital at the invitation of a Japanese civic group.

Under economic sanctions on Iraq that followed the war, Iraqi hospitals were prohibited from obtaining essential drugs as well as new medical equipment like tools for radio therapy because the international community feared they might be used for military purposes, he said.

“So, death and disease, and death and disease…this is the life of people in Iraq. I want to save Iraqi children,” said Salih.

Our country’s military now declares preparations to attack the Shrine of Ali in the city of Najaf in Iraq. Our country stands on the precipice of declaring war on Islam. An attack on the Shrine of Ali is an attack on the heart of Islam and must be nonviolently resisted in our country.

The US military is urging civilians to leave Najaf. We take this as a signal that our country is preparing to turn Najaf into a free fire zone, in which all who move, civilian or not, are targeted for attack. A free fire zone and an attack on the Shrine would significantly escalate the violence throughout Iraq, increasing the danger for all Iraqis.

As the fighting and crisis intensifies in Najaf, Voices in the Wilderness calls for nonviolent acts demanding an end to the fighting. Call your Congressional Representative, US Senator and John Kerry’s campaign headquarters in your state to demand that they publicly call for an end to all US military actions in Najaf, against its citizens and at the Imam Ali Mosque. Call candidates for federal office in your state and issue the same demand. If they don’t respond positively, initiate nonviolent direct actions at their offices. Such nonviolent actions can include: an occupation of their office; a daily vigil outside of their office; a fax campaign to their office demanding they issue the statement; or a phone call campaign to their office. Also, write letters to the editor of your local newspapers and hold vigils in your local community. The time to act is now.

Please see VitW’s Emergency Action Concerning Najaf Iraq.

By Nicolas Rothwell, Middle East correspondent
The Australian
13 August 2004

AT LEAST 165 people were killed and more than 600 wounded in heavy fighting across Iraq over the past 24 hours as US marines moved to wipe out Moqtada al-Sadr’s militia forces in the holy city of Najaf.

As US tanks, armoured vehicles and helicopter gunships attacked the radical cleric’s Mehdi Army, the rebels fired mortar rounds from the courtyard of the Imam Ali mosque, one of the holiest Shi’ite sites.

Within hours of the onslaught, US marines claimed to control the city centre. But hundreds of rebels were believed to have dispersed in the tunnels beneath Najaf’s cemetery to prepare for a last stand.

Iraqi civil defence forces and police units were sent to seal off the holy areas.

“Major operations to destroy the militia have begun,” a US commander said.