On December 6, 2004, Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes refused to board his ship as it left the San Diego Naval Station in support of the Iraq War and occupation. At the time of his refusal, Pablo said he hoped his protest might inspire other GI's to refuse to take part in the war.

On January 5, 2005, Kevin Benderman refused to deploy for a second tour of duty in Iraq with the Army's Third Infantry Division. At the same time seventeen other soldiers from his unit went AWOL, two tried to kill themselves and one had a relative shoot him in the leg to avoid deploying.

Both men applied for discharge from the US military as conscientious objectors. The military has wrongly rejected both claims.

It's time for us to escalate public pressure and action in support of Pablo, Kevin and the thousands of other courageous men and women who have followed their conscience to uphold international law and to take a principled stand against the unjust, illegal war and occupation of Iraq. It's time we had their backs.

Objection and resistance by military service persons is a healthy and important assertion of Democracy in a country where the decisions to invade Iraq, to maintain an occupation, and engage in widespread human right violations and torture were made undemocratically in violation of international law and based on continuing lies and disinformation.

Please join us by organizing a public demonstration, vigil or rally of support. Every action, no matter how large or small is important.

Also,

Send letters of support and donations to cover legal fees to Pablo and Kevin via their websites listed below.

Write letters to the editor, and help educate your organization, church, union, school, co workers and community.

Resisting illegal occupation and war is not a crime! The right to conscientious objection is being systematically violated by the military. Those objectors who are publicly asserting their rights are being singled out for punishment. We demand that military personnel retain their right to follow their conscience, publicly dissent and that their basic democratic rights be respected.

A better world is possible,


Monica Benderman - spouse of Kevin Benderman

Victor Paredes - brother of Pablo Paredes

Aimee Allison - Gulf War CO; Oakland City Council Candidate

Medea Benjamin - CodePink, Co-Founder; Global Exchange, Founding Director

Andrea Buffa - CodePink; Global Exchange, Peace Campaign Coordinator

Leslie Cagan - United for Peace and Justice, Nat'l Coordinator

Kelly Campbell - September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

Todd Chretien - Int'l Socialist Organization

Gerry Condon - Right To Resist / Project Safe Haven (Canada), Director

Monique Jeanne Dols - Campus Anti-War Network

Stephen Funk - former Marine and first public Iraq War resister

Susan Galleymore - MotherSpeak; military mother; Courage to Resist

Tim Goodrich - Iraq Veterans Against the War, Co-Founder

Stan Goff - Bring Them Home Now!, Coor Cmte; retired Special Forces Master Sgt; military father

Lynn Gonzalez - San Diego Military Counseling Project

Jack Heyman - Int'l Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10, Exec Board

Dahr Jamail - Independent Journalist

George Johnson - Veterans for Peace, Nat'l Exec Board

Ragina Johnson - College Not Combat

Naomi Klein - activist; writer

National Youth Student Peace Coalition

Sharon Lee Kufeldt - Veterans for Peace, Nat'l Exec Board VP

Barbara Lubin - Middle East Children's Alliance, Director; ANSWER, Nat'l Steering Cmte

Efia Nwangaza - Afrikan Am Institute for Policy Studies; Not in Our Name Nat'l Steering Cmte

Siri Margerin - United for Peace and Justice, Bay Area Steering Cmte; Iraq Peace Panel Project

Steve Morse - GI Rights Program Coor, Central Cmte for Conscientious Objectors

Jeff Paterson - Not in Our Name; former Marine and 1991 Gulf War resister

Ibrahim Ramey - Fellowship of Reconciliation, - Myack, New York, Disarmament Program Coordinator

David Solnit - People Powered Strategy Project; Courage to Resist

Vida Shahamat and Brain Barry - South Bay Mobilization Against the War

Aryeh Shell - Courage to Resist; Popular Education and Action CollectivE

Samina Faheem Sundas - American Muslim Voice

School of the Americas Watch, staff members

Fernando Suarez del Solar - Gold Star Families for Peace, father of Marine Jesus Suarez killed in Iraq

Fr. Louie Vitale, O.F.M., St Boniface Church; Korea War veteran

Liat Weingart - Jewish Voice for Peace, Co-Director

Bob Wing - War Times; United for Peace and Justice, Nat'l Steering Cmte

Howard Zinn - historian; author

(organizations listed for identification purposes only)

Organizational Endorsers:

Campus Anti-War Network
Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors
College Not Combat
Courage to Resist
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Grandmothers for Peace International
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Jewish Voice for Peace
No Draft, No Way
MotherSpeak
National Youth Student Peace Coalition
No in Our Name
Redwood Peace and Justice Center
Traprock Peace Center
War Resisters Support Campaign (Canada)

More info about Pablo Paredes:
http://www.SwiftSmartVeterans.com

More info about Kevin Benderman:
http://www.BendermanDefense.org

For May 10 actions, leaflets, and more:
http://www.CourageToResist.org

Contact: courage@riseup.net

Courage to Resist is a new group of concerned community members, veterans and military families organizing support for military objectors to illegal war and occupation and the underlying policies of empire. We have adopted a people power strategy to weaken the pillars that support the Iraq war and occupation by supporting GI resistance, which together with counter recruitment and draft resistance work can remove the supply of obedient troops.