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Benderman
By Russ Bynum
Associated Press Writer
The Guardian
FORT STEWART, Ga. (AP) - The court-martial of an Army mechanic who refused to deploy to Iraq came to a sudden halt Wednesday when a military judge ordered a new investigative hearing for the soldier.
Sgt. Kevin Benderman was to stand trial Thursday on charges of desertion and missing movement, but the judge, Col. Stephen Henley, ruled that the investigating officer who recommended trying him in a general court-martial had compromised her impartiality in an e-mail to a military prosecutor.
Sergeant Benderman’s CO status was denied, again, by his command April 29th.
To learn more about Kevin’s case, please visit www.bendermandefense.org.
The following is Monica Benderman’s letter to Kevin’s command in response to their denial of his CO application.
U.S. Army Sergeant Kevin Benderman Steps Up To The Plate, Conscientious Objector Status Pending
By Robert S. Finnegan
Managing Editor
Southeast Asia News
The ongoing saga of Sergeant Kevin Benderman’s denial regarding the legitimacy of war and his refusal to participate in it has now crystallized into a war of words and legalities, pitting his beliefs and first-hand battlefield knowledge against an action by the U.S. Government and Army prosecutors who are charging him with desertion for choosing to follow his conscience, in a war declared illegal by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Benderman is scheduled to stand trial before a General Courts-Martial at Ft. Stewart on May 11 on counts of desertion and missing a unit movement.
Benderman’s wife, Monica says that she is having a hard time expressing her feelings at this point. “Our lives right now have been put on hold by this issue. My husband is baring his soul. I don’t know what more proof these people need, something so simple, so basic, and they do not appear to have a clue.”
A Military Wife Speaks
Bruderhof Communities
A soldier’s wife, Monica Benderman of Hinesville, Georgia, used to be admired. But not anymore. In December 2004, facing a second tour of duty in Iraq, her husband, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, applied for conscientious objector status - and was promptly charged with desertion.
For the past several weeks, my husband, Kevin, and I have answered questions from reporters, and other interested citizens from almost every state in the union, and about eight foreign countries. After all of these interviews, I have a few questions and comments of my own.
What’s gone wrong when a man and his wife receive phone calls and emails from all over their country asking them to explain themselves, calling them cowards, wondering if they have ever read the Bible or studied the scripture, all because that man has chosen to speak out against war and violence, and his wife has chosen to stand with him?
Kevin Benderman is a mechanic who is trained to fix Bradley armored vehicles. On December 20, 2004, he applied for conscientious objector status. Yesterday he made time to talk with us about his decision.
The following is the interview conducted by Omar Khan, editor and ‘forum’ manager of www.dahrjamailiraq.com.
Omar Khan: Kindly tell us your name and a little about your background—your age, where you live, where you were born and raised, where you went to school, things of that sort.
Kevin Benderman: My name is Kevin Mitchell Benderman. Currently I’m living in Hinesville, Georgia, with my wife, Monica, and my stepson Ryan. I was born in Alabama. I was raised between there and Tennessee. I’ve gone to various schools, and I’m currently studying Criminal Justice out of Ashworth College for a Bachelor’s Degree.
OK: A Thursday, January 13 CNN article whose subtitle tells of your “claim” that others “just don’t know how bad it is.” But that article gives none of your or any other observations of how bad it is. Can you take a few moments to tell us something about how bad it is?
KB: The things that I have seen in the war zone that I’ve been to—and I am referring to this as all war, because my father told me about things he saw during World War II, and I’ve talked to Vietnam War veterans, I’ve talked to Korean War veterans, and they’ve all told me similar things that they’ve seen. And that is how peoples homes are destroyed. That’s how people are destroyed. And just how insane, really, the entire thing is. War destroys everything in its path. It’s the most destructive force on the planet that mankind has come up with, I can tell you that.
