Anderson is one of the members of Iraq Vets Against the War (IVAW) Deployed who visited Clearlake on Dec. 16 for a fundraiser for KPFZ. He went AWOL after serving in the Army in Baghdad between January and July 2004. While on a visit home at Christmas, Anderson said his family drove him to Canada to avoid his redeployment to Iraq seven months later.

 

He received an "other than honorable" discharge from the military in 2005, but was not prosecuted. But that hasn't been true for many other GIs who have similarly protested the war.

 

A case in point: On Jan. 2, 2007, Anderson said, IVAW Deployed will leave San Francisco to travel to for Ft. Lewis, Wash., to offer their support to comrade Army Lt. Ehren Watada.

In June 2006, Watada became the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq's war, which he believes is illegal. His pre-trial hearing begins Jan. 4, with his court martial scheduled to begin Feb. 5. If convicted Watada faces court martial and as much as six years in prison.

Also facing court martial proceedings in January at Ft. Lewis is Army Spc. Suzanne Swift, a military police officer who -- shortly before her unit was to redeploy to Iraq --  allegedly went AWOL for five months and was arrested at her mother's home in June.

Swift claims her superiors in the military sexually harassed and assaulted her while in Iraq and stateside. In an October statement the Army said it has substantiated one of her claims against another soldier but could not substantiate two other claims.

On the Web: For more on Watada's case, visit www.thankyoult.org; for more on Swift, visit www.couragetoresist.org.

 

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..