Muslim GI refuses to fight
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003

On the morning of February 15, I spoke at a press conference in support of Sp/4 Ghanim Khalil, an Army National Guardsman where he announced that "If I'm ordered to go to the Middle East, I will not go". Later that day he repeated that pledge when he spoke at the United for Peace & Justice rally in New York City.

Khalil, 26, is of Pakistani decent and an American citizen. He served 4 years in the Marine Corps and transferred to the Army National Guard to finish his military enlistment. He is assigned to a supply unit in Brooklyn where troops have been told "it's only a matter of time" before they're mobilized.

I sent some time talking to Khalil over the past several days and learned that he is a Sufi Muslim and that his opposition to this war is spiritual and ethical as well as political.

He said "As a Muslim I have objections to this war. Muslim tenets forbid taking a life except in self-defense. If this war begins, it is a violation of human rights. It is about seizing others material possessions, natural resources". He called his protest universal, saying that people of all faiths have spoken out against war with Iraq.

Khalil is legally represented by Tod Ensign, director of Citizen Soldier, a GI rights advocacy group based in NYC. He realizes he could go to jail for disobeying orders but said that he is within his legal rights to speak out against the war.

During the last Gulf War, the government used the slogan "support our troops" to silence opposition and rally support for that war. Real support for our servicemen and women means continuing to demand that they not be put in harms way for anything other than legitimate defense of our country.

It also means supporting those brave servicemen and women who refuse to fight an illegal and unjust war. I hope that the veterans movement will extend our hand in solidarity and support to Ghanim Khalil and other military resisters who may follow.

David Cline