Ricky Clousing at 8/12/2006 press conference in Seattle. Photo: Jeff Paterson / Courage to Resist

April 18, 2007

Sgt. Ricky Clousing did three months in an Army brig for refusing to return to Iraq. He speaks with independent journalist Sarah Olson about his experiences in Iraq that led him to find the courage to resist an illegal and unjust occupation war. 20 min. MP3 audio (13.7 MB)

“He was bleeding. I’m looking down at his eyes, and he looked up at me. It was an intense moment. I feel like this communication, questions he might have been feeling or asking. Like, “why did he get shot?” “Why does it hurt so much?” “Why are we there?” “What’s going on?” “Why is this happening to him?” I was asking these questions… I was on the same team of people that just took this person’s life so casually and unnecessarily...”

“I knew that I could finish my time and realistically end up going back to Iraq at least once. Or I could go AWOL… I thought. "wow," I actually do have a choice.”