Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq

Disillusioned, outraged, and betrayed, American soldiers are taking a stand against the war in Iraq.
A shattering journey of revelation, pain, and betrayal, Mission Rejected takes the reader deep into the turmoil of U.S. troops confronting the Iraq War. Some of these soldiers have decided not to fight in Iraq. Others, who have served in the “Sand Box” only to return so appalled by their experience and by what that experience has done to them, choose to declare, in the words of the old Phil Ochs song, “I’m not marchin’ anymore!”
Consider Specialist Jeremy Hinzman, who chose Canada over his military career. When queried about his obligation to follow orders, his answer came fast: “I was told in basic training that, if I’m given an illegal or immoral order, it is my duty to disobey it. I feel that invading and occupying Iraq is an illegal and immoral thing to do.” Meet Sergeant Camilo Mejía, who said from prison, “Behind these bars I sit a free man because I listened to a higher power: the voice of my conscience.”
Increasing numbers of U.S. soldiers are returning from Iraq horrified by what they witnessed and what they did. Journalist Peter Laufer tells how these soldiers are transformed from trained warriors to activists in the struggle to end the Iraq War. He puts their experiences into context by drawing on the lessons of the Vietnam War and citing the historical precedents for troops who refuse unconscionable orders.
Mission Rejected probes the universal issue of resistance to war by the very men who chose to defend the nation.