Reservists Won’t Face Court-Martial

The U.S. military said Monday that it would not court-martial any of the 23 Army reservists who refused a mission transporting fuel along a dangerous road in Iraq.

Instead, they will receive less severe punishments, such as extra duties or reduction in rank, Lt. Col. Steven Boylan said.

The reservists, from the 343rd Quartermaster Company, are being disciplined for failing to follow orders under Article 15, which means no court proceedings will be held, and the military will not identify them, Boylan said.

The soldiers failed to report Oct. 13 for a mission to transport supplies from the Tallil air base near Nasiriya to Taji, north of Baghdad. They said they balked because the vehicles were in poor condition and had no armor. They also said complaints to their commander went unheeded.

“They felt they didn’t have the proper equipment to do the mission they were ordered to do and are being disciplined for failing to follow orders,” Boylan said.

Boylan said 18 of the soldiers had been punished and the others would face reprimand this week. He did not offer details on the penalties.

Refusal of orders in wartime can be punished by death, discharge, forfeiture of pay and benefits, or confinement.

The father of one reservist said he expected his son to receive a pay cut and a reprimand.

“This was about as lenient as possible. I think it’s fair,” said Rickey Shealey of Quinton, Ala., whose 29-year-old son, Scott, is a private with the unit. “I’m glad it’s over with. I don’t care if he comes back as a private or a general. I just want him to come back.”

Military investigators found that some of the complaints raised by the soldiers, including concerns about vehicle maintenance and protection, were credible, and that actions were taken to address the issues.

U.S. convoys are frequent targets of insurgents in Iraq.

Violence in Iraq continued Monday with an intense gunfight on Baghdad’s dangerous Haifa Street. The site is near the Green Zone, which houses government officials and diplomats. Witnesses said gunmen killed an Iraqi who was employed by the U.S.-led coalition forces.

The military announced the deaths of two Marines killed in Al Anbar province Friday. At least 1,270 U.S. service members have been killed since the war began in March 2003.

Also Monday, President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to holding Iraqi elections Jan. 30. But he warned that the vote would be only “a major first step” toward democracy.

“The American people must understand that democracy just doesn’t happen overnight. It is a process. It is an evolution,” Bush said after a White House meeting with interim Iraqi President Ghazi Ajil Yawer.

“After all, look at our own history. We had great principles enunciated in our Declarations of Independence and our Constitution, yet we had slavery for 100 years,” Bush said. “It takes a while for democracy to take hold.”

Yawer denounced “the armies of darkness” that he said were trying to incite civil war in Iraq. “But I want to assure the whole world that this will never, ever happen,” he said.

Yawer called it unfair to label the insurgency a Sunni Muslim uprising. “These are not Sunnis. They are a mix of people who have one thing in common: hatred to the Iraqi society and hatred to democracy, people who are trying to stop us from having our first elections,” he said.