Local soldier who refused redeployment speaks in Auburn

Matthis Chiroux, the Auburn native who refused redeployment to Iraq last year citing moral objections, took the podium at Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Sunday morning to speak about his trials and tribulations during his service and since he refused redeployment.
Chiroux said he refused deployment to Iraq because he believes it is an illegal occupation and that the Army fosters a culture of abuse and torture.
Now, after obtaining a general discharge, Chiroux is still speaking out against the Iraq War.
He told the congregation Sunday there’s “a Fourth Reich movement right here on our shining society on the hill.”
Before receiving redeployment papers, Chiroux served for four years as an Army journalist in Japan, Germany, the Philippines and Afghanistan. He said his job was to disseminate propaganda.
“I did very high-level propaganda,” he said. “We were targeting members of Congress … The military is maybe one of the greatest public relations hoaxes ever in this country.”
On Sunday morning, Chiroux admitted to mistakes in the past, including run-ins with the law as a juvenile. He said those run-ins landed him in court and, subsequently, in the Army. Once in the Army, he said he was taught how to punch someone in a way that it would kill that person and how to stab someone to do the same.
“I was taught how to kill people like everyone else,” he said. He said racism and sexism were encouraged.
Chiroux said the Army told him, “These aren’t people. They’re Haji. Hajis killing and mutilating your buddies.”
He said the Army used religious fears against detainees in interrogations.
Chiroux also said that while deployed, he and other Army members solicited prostitutes in the Philippines and Japan.
In June 2008, Chiroux did not show up for redeployment.
“They never came for me,” he said.
He received a letter giving him two options — a dishonorable discharge or a hearing to defend himself against the dishonorable discharge.
“I went to this hearing. I sat before this board and I defended myself,” he said.
Chiroux said he told the board that he was not a coward. He said he told them that the Iraq War was a criminal occupation. He said soldiers in Iraq were being forced to commit war crimes.
He received an honorable discharge.
“I haven’t so much as lost my G.I. Bill,” he said. Chiroux still receives G.I. benefits, including funds to attend college.
The Auburn native said he would continue to fight until the “criminal occupation” is concluded.
“I never stopped standing and I never stopped fighting,” he said. “The struggle will be eternal, but I have a fighting chance now. It’s on our children’s backs that these occupations will be waged. I consider the truth to be divine and consider human life to be the same.”