Armed for Court-Martial Combat

In recent years, anti-war resistance in the military has concentrated on the Iraq conflict. But as forces in Afghanistan increase, that war is being highlighted in Central Texas by the court-martial of two Fort Hood soldiers who refuse to be deployed.

Iraq veteran Spc. Victor Agosto was originally scheduled to leave the U.S. Army on Aug. 3. Instead, on Aug. 5 he was on trial. He had been informed on May 1 that he would be stop-lossed (the term for when the military extends a service person's contract) and deployed to Afghanistan in November. Agosto's civilian attorney James Branum explained that when his client received his written orders to report for duty to a predeployment soldier readiness check site, "He refused to go, and along with that he was disobeying any unit that helped the unit prepare to go to Afghanistan."

As a result, Agosto was charged with refusal of a lawful order from a noncommissioned officer. He pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment, and demoted from specialist to private. Branum said Agosto is not a conscientious objector and still believes in wars of self-defense. But in an unsworn statement submitted to the court, Agosto argued that the coalition presence in Afghan­istan violates U.N. treaties to which the U.S. is a signatory. The war, Branum said, "is immoral, and some day it will be found illegal." It is already getting bigger. With 21,000 extra troops committed earlier this year, there are now 62,000 U.S. military personnel in the region, with more expected and no timeline for withdrawal.

Agosto is now in the Bell County Jail. "The military has so many people in jail that they don't have enough places to put everybody," Branum said. The attorney believes he can get Agosto's sentence reduced due to errors in the hearing process, but while he files that appeal, he has another Fort Hood client facing a court-martial on Aug. 14 – Sgt. Travis Bishop, another Iraq veteran who's refusing to go to Afghanistan.

After returning from Iraq, Bishop applied for conscientious objector status on religious grounds. While that's still pending, he is also facing up to a year in jail and a dishonorable discharge for four charges, including going AWOL. Unlike Agosto, Bishop is pleading not guilty. Bishop explained, "It's an interesting dynamic that they want to send a pacifist to prison."