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 Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. He graduated from Georgetown Law in 2011.

Early life

He is an

American citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Consti ...

and grew up in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. His father served in the American diplomatic service. During his eight-year stay in Egypt, Delgado learned to speak

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. His family then moved to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, where he attended

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

Army career

At 19 years of age, Delgado joined the

Army Reserves A military reserve force is a military organization whose members (reservists) have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional ma ...

on September 11, 2001. After signing his enlistment contract, he learned of the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States. He was deployed to Iraq in April 2003. Because of his development of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

beliefs, he filed for

conscientious objector 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–indu ...

status. He continued to serve in Iraq while his request was processed. In November 2003, his unit was redeployed to

Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib ( or ; ) is a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghra ...

prison. In April 2004, the Army recognized his conscientious objector status and he was

honorably discharged A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

After the Army

He returned to

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

and enrolled in the

New College of Florida New College of Florida is a public university, public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida, United States. The college is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. New College has the smallest student enrollment in the State U ...

to continue his religion studies. He graduated in 2006. In 2005, Delgado began giving public presentations about his experiences in Iraq. The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

described it as a "grisly roadshow" that gives "a disturbing account of routine brutality that he elgadoclaims he saw during his year in Iraq." His presentations resulted in military investigations from the 81st Regional Readiness Command and the

United States Army Criminal Investigation Command The United States Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID or DACID), previously known as the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC), is the primary federal law enforcement agency of the United States Depa ...

. In 2007,

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...

published a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

of Delgado's time at Abu Ghraib and his conscientious objection entitled ''The Sutras of Abu Ghraib''. 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

* He appears in the film ''

The Ground Truth ''The Ground Truth'' (also known as ''The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends'') is a 2006 documentary film about veterans of the Iraq War. It was directed and produced by Patricia Foulkrod. Plot The film addresses the issues many soldiers f ...

'' by Focus Features and the revised edition of ''Rush to War''. * In February 2006,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

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.

References

External links

Select speeches and interviews

Democracy Now! Interview transcript

Video

Berkeley High Presentation on Abu GhraibPresentation on Abu Ghraib
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delgado, Aidan American Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists 1981 births Living people United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of the Iraq War United States military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison Iraq War resisters American conscientious objectors American expatriates in Egypt