Stephen Funk | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 15, 1982 Seattle, Washington |
| Service/ |  United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 2002–2004 |
| Rank | Private |
| Other work | Founder & Artistic Director, Veteran Artists |
Stephen Funk (born June 15, 1982) is a former United States Marine Corps Landing Support Specialist and Lance Corporal reservist. He was the first person to publicly refuse to deploy in Iraq. [1]
Stephen Funk decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps after 9/11, signing a six-year contract in February 2002. Near the end of boot camp, he shot expert at the rifle range, at 200-, 300- and 500-yards. Despite this, his instructor told him that he would not shoot as well in combat; Funk later said, "I told him he was right, because I felt killing was wrong." [2]
Prior to enlisting, Funk had a background in social activism having attended an alternative high school called The Nova Project. He participated in protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle and the during the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
His period of "unauthorized absence" lasted from February 9, 2003, to April 1, 2003. [3]
On April 1, 2003, Funk held a press conference at the main gate of San Jose Marine Reserve Base and turned himself over to military authorities. During the conference, Funk spoke to reporters and said "There is no way to justify war because you're paying with human lives." [3] Just before being taken into custody. Funk had attempted to obtain conscientious objector status and a discharge. His conscientious objector application was never reviewed, instead he was court-martialed. At the same time he applied for conscientious objector status, Funk also came out publicly as a gay man. In 2003, while imprisoned, he was named as one of OUT Magazine's "Out 100". [4]
Of the two charges Funk was brought up on, a military jury acquitted him on September 6, 2003, of desertion, but convicted him of the lesser charge of unauthorized absence. He had spent 47 days of unauthorized absence preparing his application for conscientious objection and was sentenced to six months imprisonment, reduction in rank from E-3 to E-1 and given a bad-conduct discharge.
It is noteworthy that the United States punished him "for refusing to report to his unit during the Iraq war," [4] during the period of his "unauthorized absence" (Feb 9, 2003 to April 1, 2003), which occurred before the May 22, 2003, adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483. (That resolution affirmed that the United States and the United Kingdom had responsibility for Iraq as the "occupying powers under unified command.")
This sequence of events means that United States punished Stephen Funk for refusing to "report to his unit during [a] war" [4] not sanctioned by the United Nations. This fact has major implications in international law: In an interview given on August 25, 2006, about the "2003 invasion of Iraq,...[ Benjamin B. Ferencz, an American lawyer ],...said the United Nations charter, which was written after the carnage of World War II, contains a provision that no nation can use armed force without the permission of the UN Security Council." [5] Ferencz is qualified to make comparisons to the Nuremberg Trials because he, himself, was an investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War II and the Chief Prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, one of the twelve military trials held by the U.S. authorities at Nuremberg, Germany. One of the legal principles used during those trials was Nuremberg Principle IV which deals with the responsibility of individuals. It states, "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him." [6] The precedents and principles of international law that were set during the Nuremberg Trials have legal relevance to all subsequent cases, including that of Stephen Funk. [6]
Stephen Funk was confined in the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Brig and served 5 months of a 6-month sentence. During his confinement, anti-war activists organized a major protest outside the base along with a bus tour of speakers traveling the east coast. It was coordinated with rallies in several major cities including San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans, Paris, and London.
Upon release Funk returned to the San Francisco Bay Area enrolling at Stanford University to study international relations. Upon graduation, Condoleezza Rice, now a professor at the school, handed Funk his degree. He continued his peace activism becoming an honorary founding member of Iraq Veterans Against the War in 2004. Funk is also founder and creative director of Veteran Artists, an organization "founded and run by recent military veterans connecting other veterans with community resources to pursue artistic opportunities."
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service.
The Nuremberg principles are a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime. The document was created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations to codify the legal principles underlying the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi party members following World War II.
Citizens of Israel have refused to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or have disobeyed orders on the grounds of pacifism, antimilitarism, religious philosophy, or political disagreement with Israeli policy such as its occupation of the West Bank. Conscientious objectors in Israel are known as sarvanim which is sometimes translated as "refuseniks", or mishtamtim.
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave, which are temporary forms of absence.
Camilo Ernesto Mejía is a Nicaraguan who left the United States Army during the Iraq War on conscientious objector grounds, was convicted of desertion and went on to become an anti-war activist.
Jeremy Dean Hinzman is an Iraq War resister who was the first American deserter to seek refugee status in Canada.
Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy is a 1970 book written by Telford Taylor, the Chief Counsel Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.
Desmond Thomas Doss was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. Due to his religious beliefs, he refused to carry a weapon.
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. He graduated from Georgetown Law in 2011.
Benjamin Berell Ferencz was an American lawyer. He was an investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War II and the chief prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen trial, one of the 12 subsequent Nuremberg trials held by US authorities at Nuremberg, Germany. When the Einsatzgruppen reports were discovered, Ferencz pushed for a trial based on their evidence. When confronted with a lack of staff and resources, he personally volunteered to serve as the prosecutor.
Ehren Keoni Watada is a former first lieutenant of the United States Army, best known as the first commissioned officer in the US armed forces to refuse to deploy to Iraq. In June 2006, Watada refused to deploy for his unit's assigned rotation to Operation Iraqi Freedom, saying he believed the war to be illegal and that, under the doctrine of command responsibility, it would make him party to war crimes. At the time, he was assigned to duty with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, as a fire support officer. He was brought before a court-martial in 2007 which ended in a mistrial; the Army subsequently discharged him under "Other-Than-Honorable-Conditions" (OTH) in 2009. An OTH discharge is the least favorable type of administrative discharge from the Army, and is reserved for a "pattern of behavior that constitutes a significant departure from the conduct expected of Soldiers of the Army."
Agustín Aguayo is a veteran of the Iraq War. After several failed attempts to attain conscientious objector status, he deserted his unit in Germany in September 2006 to avoid redeployment to Iraq. He was convicted of desertion by a court martial March 6, 2007 and served six months in prison. His trial led Amnesty International to declare him a prisoner of conscience.
Superior orders, also known as just following orders or the Nuremberg defense, is a plea in a court of law that a person, whether civilian, military or police, can be considered guilty of committing crimes ordered by a superior officer or official. It is regarded as a complement to command responsibility.
André Shepherd is a U.S. Army Specialist and deserter who applied for asylum in Germany on November 26, 2008. He is the first Iraq War veteran to pursue refugee status in Europe and only the second U.S. soldier to ever apply for refugee status in Germany.
Hans-Peter Kaul was a German international law scholar and former diplomat and lawyer. From 11 March 2003 until 1 July 2014, he served as Judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. At the ICC, Kaul was President of the Pre-Trial Division from 2004 until March 2009 and again in 2014, and he was the Court's Second Vice-President from 2009 to 2012. In 2014, he resigned from the ICC for health reasons but his condition became worse and he died on 21 July 2014.
Naser Jason Abdo is an American former United States Army private first class who was arrested in 2011 for attempting to commit a terrorist attack against a restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas. He was convicted in federal court and sentenced to two consecutive life terms, plus 60 years, which he is currently serving in ADX Florence.
Conscientious objection in the United States is based on the Military Selective Service Act, which delegates its implementation to the Selective Service System. Conscientious objection is also recognized by the Department of Defense.
Courage to Resist (CTR) is an organization in the San Francisco, CA area and beyond formed during the early part of the Iraq War which began in 2003. CTR's mission is to support U.S military war resisters, including helping them with legal fees such as well-known resisters Chelsea Manning and Reality Winner. In 2018, CTR began encouraging soldiers to resist at detention camps and other immigrant operations of the U.S. military. CTR's principle slogans are “Supporting the troops who refuse to fight!” and "Towards a World Without War!" They support those “who face consequences for acting on conscience, in opposition to illegal wars, occupations, [and] the policies of empire”.
Lieselotte (Lisa) Kalvelage was a German-born American who demonstrated against United States militarism during the Vietnam War. She was one of the women who were called the "napalm ladies". In May 1966 at a storage yard in the Alviso district of San Jose, California, they sat in front of a forklift loaded with napalm bombs to protest their delivery to Vietnam. Along with the three other women, she was tried and convicted but given a suspended sentence. Her statement in court was used by Pete Seeger in his song "My Name Is Lisa Kalvelage". Kalvelage, who ran the San Jose Peace Center from 1967 to 1972, remained a peace activist into her eighties. She was active in a number of organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
