Aidan Delgado Aidan Delgado ( born November 18 , 1981 ) is a lawyer and former soldier in the 320th Military Police Company of the United States Army , best known for having become a conscientious objector in April 2003 during his deployment to Iraq and for disclosing information about Abu Ghraib . Army career . Delgado states that he joined the Army Reserve while he was also investigating Buddhism . He signed his enlistment contract on September 11 , 2001 . He began a year - long tour in Iraq in April 2003 ; by then he was openly questioning whether he could participate in the war in Iraq good conscience , due to his newfound dedication to the principles of pacifism espoused in his faith . He filed for conscientious objector status and continued to serve in Iraq while it was processed . As the only member of his company who spoke Arabic , Delgado was in frequent contact with Iraqi civilians . Eventually he was transferred to Abu Ghraib where he claimed to have witnessed many abuses . The Army recognized his conscientious objector status and he was honorably discharged in April 2004 . After the Army . Delgado is actively involved in the anti - war movement . He has participated in numerous peace activities across the country , and led the 70 - member " Florida For Peace " group to Washington , D . C . on September 24 , 2005 to participate in the rally organized by United for Peace and Justice . He has also given many presentations on the abuses committed at the Abu Ghraib prison , at which Delgado was stationed for six months . Delgado sparked considerable controversy when , upon his release from the Army and his return to the United States , he asserted , in an interview with " The New York Times " columnist Bob Herbert , to have witnessed cases of abuse perpetrated against Iraqi civilians by American soldiers . This included claims of soldiers in Humvees breaking glass bottles over the heads of passing civilians . After the Bob Herbert interview , Delgado provided a sworn statement and copies of photographs taken at Abu Ghraib to Army CID and IG investigators . The lead investigator was Army CID Agent David Lindstedt and lawyer Aaron Delgado from the Daytona law firm Simpson & Delgado was also present as legal council . Several months later , representatives of the military stated that they could neither confirm nor deny Delgado ' s account . During the investigation Army CID Agent David Lindstedt acknowledged that the incidents described by Delgado occurred , but disputed the context . In their report , Army CID investigators acknowledged that they had not interviewed some of the members of Delgado ' s unit that he had mentioned in the deposition as witnesses . Since his involvement with " The New York Times " article and the publication of his story in national media , he has become one of the most visible and well - known veterans in the anti - war movement . Along with numerous television appearances 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 the POV Series on PBS on October 16 , 2008 . In 2007 , Beacon Press published a memoir of Delgado ' s time at Abu Ghraib and his conscientious objection entitled " The Sutras of Abu Ghraib " . Delgado speaks some Arabic , having spent eight years living in Egypt , where his father , an American diplomat , was assigned ; he graduated from Cairo American College in 2000 . Delgado also lived in Thailand and Senegal . Delgado attained a Bachelor ' s Degree in Religion at the New College of Florida in 2006 . See also . List of Iraq War Resisters