Aidan Delgado

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.

Early life

Delgado was born on November 18, 1981. 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]

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 graduated from Georgetown Law.

In the media

  • He appears in the film The Ground Truth by Focus Features and the revised edition of Rush to War.
  • In February 2006, blues guitarist Robert Cray released a video for his song "Twenty," about the Iraq War, in which Delgado portrayed a soldier coming home.
  • Delgado is one of the individuals featured in the documentary Soldiers of Conscience by Luna Productions, broadcast on PBS on October 16, 2008.[5]

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

  • Fleming, Scott (2005). "In Good Conscience". LiP Magazine and AlterNet. Archived from the original on 17 March 2007. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  • Mission Rejected: U. S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq, Chapter 11. Chelsea Green Publishing.
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