Aidan Delgado

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Aidan Delgado is an American attorney, author, and war veteran. His 2007 book The Sutras of Abu Ghraib detailed his experiences during his deployment in Iraq. [1] He graduated from Georgetown Law in 2011.

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Early life

He is an American citizen and grew up in Thailand, Senegal and Egypt. [2] [1] [3] His father served in the American diplomatic service. [2] During his eight-year stay in Egypt, Delgado learned to speak Arabic. [3] [4] His family then moved to Florida, where he attended college. [1] [3]

Army career

At 19 years of age, Delgado joined the Army Reserves on September 11, 2001. [2] [3] After signing his enlistment contract, he learned of the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States. [2]

He was deployed to Iraq in April 2003. [3] Because of his development of Buddhist beliefs, he filed for conscientious objector status. [1] [3] He continued to serve in Iraq while his request was processed. [2] In November 2003, his unit was redeployed to Abu Ghraib prison. [2]

In April 2004, the Army recognized his conscientious objector status and he was honorably discharged. [2] [3] [4]

After the Army

He returned to Sarasota, Florida and enrolled in the New College of Florida to continue his religion studies. [2] [3] [4] He graduated in 2006.

In 2005, Delgado began giving public presentations about his experiences in Iraq. [3] The Associated Press described it as a "grisly roadshow" that gives "a disturbing account of routine brutality that he [Delgado] claims he saw during his year in Iraq." [3] His presentations resulted in military investigations from the 81st Regional Readiness Command and the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command. [3]

In 2007, Beacon Press published a memoir of Delgado's time at Abu Ghraib and his conscientious objection entitled The Sutras of Abu Ghraib. [1]

In 2011, Delgado received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. He was an associate with the international law firm Brown Rudnick.

In the media

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 THE SUTRAS OF ABU GHRAIB by Aidan Delgado. Kirkus Reviews.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Herbert, Bob (May 2, 2005). "From 'Gook' to 'Raghead'". New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hettena, Seth (2005-06-12). "Former Soldier Takes On A New Mission". Associated Press via the Los Angeles Times . ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  4. 1 2 3 Hammond, Dewey (2007-08-05). "A Buddhist soldier at Abu Ghraib". San Francisco Chronicle .
  5. "Soldiers of Conscience". PBS . Retrieved 26 September 2016.

Further reading