Soldier's path winds from front lines to protest line - Great story

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/09/19objector.html

Austin man served in Iraq, then decided his faith was at odds with war

He had already frozen up outside Baghdad the time he was supposed to fire a machine gun from his Humvee at a man holding a rocket-propelled grenade.

But it was not until Benjamin Hart Viges saw a screening of "The Passion of the Christ" in Seattle that he decided to file for conscientious objector status.

"I consider myself a Christian, and I thought Jesus wasn't talking smack," said Viges, 29, who now divides his time between traveling around the nation to demonstrate against the war and waiting tables at Magnolia Cafe by Deep Eddy pool.

Viges, runner-thin with long, dirty-blond hair and a patchy beard, is one of a cadre of former soldiers who have declared themselves conscientious objectors after serving in the Iraq war.

snip


My favorite quote from the article as to why Viges froze and couldn't kill the Iraqi:

"He wasn't some killer, some monster," Viges said. "He seemed afraid.

"He was hoodwinked by someone, just like me."