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WUERZBURG, Germany -- A U.S. Army medic who refused to return to Iraq because he believes war is morally wrong was convicted of desertion Tuesday and sentenced to an eight-month prison term -- far short of the maximum seven-year sentence. Specialist Agustin Aguayo, 35, and his attorneys turned to each other and smiled after Judge Col. R. Peter Masterton read out the sentence. Aguayo, a U.S. citizen born in Guadalajara, Mexico, had been jailed for 161 days awaiting trial and his attorney, David Court, said he did not expect him to serve more than about six more weeks. "We're grateful...

He should have gone for the second time to Iraq - US soldier Augustin Aguayo fled from his apartment in Schweinfurt and disappeared. Since this week the deserter sits in the Mannheim military prison and waits for his process. He is worldwide one of thousands of cases. Mannheim - Both military policemen sat beside his wife in the sitting room, they waited. Their tone was rough. He should pack his things, they ordered, fast. They tried to figure out how they could bring him fastest to the airport. For a long time his companions of the 1 infantry division waited...

The wife of a soldier who has gone absent without leave (AWOL) addressed a group of anti-war protestors in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, thanking them for their support and urging leniency for her husband. Army Specialist Agustin Aguayo went AWOL Sept. 2 in Germany after his application for conscientious objector status was denied by the military. Aguayo was ordered to go to Iraq but fled from his superiors. Conscientious objectors are men or women who are "opposed to serving the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principles," according to the Selective Service System (SSS), which...