Air Force veteran and conscientious objector Jason Munford talked about his experience during a panel on Wednesday at the University of Iowa. He became a conscientious objector before being deployed to Iraq and shared some details from his struggle to become a military CO. Video interview below the fold.When he worked as an Air Force Security Police officer, Jason Munford sometimes used bodily force to bring a peaceful resolution of some violent situations.

But it was the death of a 7-year-old girl that became the “crystallization” of his conscientious objection to serving in Iraq.

Munford told a story about a friend, stationed in Iraq, who had been ordered to use a vehicle-mounted machine gun on an unresponsive civilian car in Baghdad traffic. The car was later revealed to contain a 7-year-old Iraqi girl, killed by the soldier’s bullets.

Not wanting to be put in the same position as his friend, to be ordered to fire on Baghdad motorists, Munford submitted a letter of intent to become a conscientious objector.

Munford gave a simple but frustrating description of the CO process:

1. It exists.
2. It is nearly impossible.

He said he was lucky to have been able to get out of serving in Iraq.

After researching CO status on the internet, he found that some internet sites were blocked at his base, so he used his own computer and connection to read about the CO process. He said the site Objector.org was one of the best, but none of the information he found was complete.

He described a harrowing, all-day “interview” with a Harvard Law School graduate who denied his objections. Munford said the Judge Advocate General officer had found every on-line post Munford had written, printed out his Myspace profile page, and had even found some letters written to newspapers and magazines.

He was given less than two weeks to rebut the JAG officer’s 23-page report.

His rebuttal was a success.

Munford said he is currently estranged from his father, a veteran. But his grandfather, a World War II  vet, supports his decision to become a CO.

Originally from Michigan, Munford said he moved to Iowa City because of his home state’s poor economy.

At the end of a discussion that included stories from four different Iraq veterans, Munford told the crowd he wanted to “push forward to a world where veterans are no longer needed.”

He also read a quote included his original CO letter of intent:

“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.”

– John F. Kennedy