West Point Grad Wins Conscientious Objector Status

http://www.newsmax.com/us/iraq_officer_sues/2007/10/16/41460.html

West Point Grad Wins Objector Status

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- A West Point graduate who cited his religious beliefs in

a lawsuit against the Army while serving in Iraq has been granted

conscientious objector status and given an honorable discharge.

Capt. Peter Brown, a 2004 graduate and member of the 10th Mountain Division,

said his religious convictions prevented him from carrying a loaded weapon

or ordering his men to use lethal force.

"I'm relieved the Army recognized that my religious beliefs made it

impossible for me to serve as a soldier," Brown said in a news release

issued Tuesday through the American Civil Liberties Union, which had

intervened and filed a lawsuit on his behalf in U.S. District Court in

Washington.

Brown was stationed in Baghdad for more than a year with the 2nd Battalion,

14th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Drum in northern New York. His conversion

to a pacifist interpretation of the Bible began after his commission into

the Army when he attended a civilian religious center in the Netherlands in

2004, the lawsuit said.

While in Iraq, Brown applied for discharge from the Army as a conscientious

objector. Though a chaplain appointed by the Army and an investigating

officer both concluded that he was sincere and recommended an honorable

discharge, the Army disagreed and denied his request.

The ACLU and its New York chapter sued in July, asking a federal court to

order the Army to reverse its decision. Before the court could act, the Army

reconsidered and granted Brown's request Aug. 28, NYCLU spokeswoman Jennifer

Carnig said. The announcement was delayed until after Brown's return from

Iraq in September.

ACLU lawyers filed a voluntary dismissal of Brown's lawsuit Tuesday, said

Deborah Karpatkin, the ACLU attorney who represented Brown.

"Peter Brown showed by clear and convincing evidence that he is a deeply

sincere conscientious objector because of his religious training and

beliefs," Karpatkin said. "It should not have required the filing of a

lawsuit for the Army to recognize those beliefs."

Army officials at Fort Drum had no immediate comment.

Brown said he planned to move to the St. Louis area and continue seminary

classes that he started by correspondence from the war zone.

According to government figures, there were 426 applications for

conscientious objector status from 2002-06, with 224 approved, 188 denied

and 14 still pending.