{{Short description|US soldier, lecturer, and writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = |name = Joshua Casteel |honorific_suffix = |birth_name = Joshua Eric Casteel |birth_date = {{birth date|1979|12|27|df=yes}} |death_date = {{death date|2012|08|25|df=yes}} (aged 32) |birth_place = Sioux Falls, South Dakota |death_place = New York, New York |burial_place = Cedar Rapids, Iowa |burial_label = Place of burial |spouse = |relations = |image = File:JoshuaCasteelbyJimForest-cropped_01.png |caption = Joshua Casteel at the Catholic Worker house in South Bend, IN, March 2007. Photo by Jim Forest. |nickname = |allegiance = {{flag|United States of America}} |branch = {{flagicon image|Flag of the United States Army (unofficial proportions).svg}} United States Army |service_years = 1997–2005 |rank = Sergeant |unit = 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion |commands = |battles = Iraq War |awards = |other_work = }}
'''Joshua Casteel''' (27 December 1979 – 25 August 2012) was a United States Army soldier, conscientious objector, playwright, and divinity student.<ref name="Casteel">{{cite book |last1=Casteel |first1=Joshua |title=Letters from Abu Ghraib |edition=1st |location=Ithaca, NY |publisher=Essay Press |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-9791189-3-7}}</ref><ref name="Allen">Allen, Susie. "[http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/09/18/divinity-school-student-joshua-casteel-1979-2012 Divinity School student Joshua Casteel, 1979–2012]". ''UChicagoNews''. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2013.</ref><ref name="Latchis">Latchis, Rebekah. "[http://joshuacasteel.com/?p=3 The Big 3-2!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305062147/http://joshuacasteel.com/?p=3 |date=2016-03-05 }}". Joshuacasteel.com. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2013.</ref> He volunteered for the Army as a teenager and later conducted interrogations in Abu Ghraib prison.
In 2005 he received an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector. He was active in the anti-war movement before dying of lung cancer in 2012. His cancer may have been caused by the inhalation of toxic fumes from the burn pits he guarded and slept by while he served in the Iraqi war.
==Early life== Casteel was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in a Pentecostal family although he also prayed with his mother to Mary as a child.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Allen" /><ref name="Percy" /> When he was seven years old Casteel attended Iowa caucus events and by high school he was president of a local chapter of the Young Republicans.<ref name="Percy" /> Casteel was active in the local community theatre, Theatre Cedar Rapids, where he had lead roles in ''Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat'' and ''The Who's Tommy.''<ref name="Gazette1">"[http://thegazette.com/obituaries/casteel-joshua-eric/ Obituaries: Casteel, Joshua Eric]". ''The Gazette''. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2013.</ref>
==Army career== When Casteel was seventeen years old, he enlisted as an Army reservist in the delayed entry program to improve his chances of being admitted to the US Military Academy at West Point.<ref name="Percy">{{cite web |last1=Percy |first1=Jennifer |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/priest-abu-grahib-180971013/ |title=The Priest of Abu Ghraib |work=Smithsonian |date=January 2019 |access-date=23 August 2019}}</ref> Casteel did win an appointment to West Point and began his studies there in June 1998 but dropped out in his first term.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Percy" /> Casteel attended Colorado Christian University for the 1999-2000 academic year before transferring to the University of Iowa.<ref name="Roberts2009">{{Citation | last = Roberts | first = Tom | title = Once a soldier, now he's fighting Caesar | newspaper = National Catholic Reporter | date = 9 January 2009 | year = 2009 | url = https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/once-soldier-now-hes-fighting-caesar | archive-url = | archive-date = | access-date = 29 April 2026}}</ref>
In May 2002, the same month he graduated from the University of Iowa, Casteel began his training as an interrogator at Fort Huachuca in September of that year.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Percy" /> Following completion of the basic interrogator course he studied Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Percy" />
While in Monterey, Casteel befriended Father William Martin, an Episcopal priest, and once more thought about seeking ordination and, perhaps, serving as an Army chaplain.<ref name="Percy" /> During that time period Casteel also attended a lecture by theologian Stanley Hauerwas. After the lecture, Casteel asked Hauerwas "what a Christian already enlisted in the military should do." Hauerwas advised that Casteel "should leave the military right away—get as far away from it as possible."<ref name="Percy" />
In May 2004, he was admitted to the Graduate Theological Union. Two weeks later Casteel's Army Reserve unit was ordered to active duty.<ref name="Percy" /> His unit arrived in Iraq six weeks after revelation of abuses by US personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison.<ref name="Casteel" /> Casteel served with the Army's 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion as an interrogator at the prison. He stated he had conducted over 130 prisoner interrogations there.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Lindsey">{{cite web |last1=Lindsey |first1=T. M. |url=http://iowaindependent.com/4757/a-cos-journey-from-iowa-to-abu-ghraib-and-back |title=A conscientious objector's journey |url-status=dead |work=The Iowa Independent |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100207165736/http://iowaindependent.com/4757/a-cos-journey-from-iowa-to-abu-ghraib-and-back |date=3 September 2008 |archivedate=7 February 2010 |access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref> He was promoted to sergeant in August 2004.<ref name="Percy" />
===Becoming a conscientious objector=== {{Quote|quote=To take another’s life is the quintessential statement of divine judgment, and faithlessness toward the possibility of reconciliation and redemption. It is better for a righteous man to die at the hands of an enemy than to defend himself with lethal force, because the mere entity of life itself is not what is of greatest importance, but rather the manner of one’s living—living virtuously and loving all, especially enemies.|author=Joshua Casteel|source= from his conscientious objector application<ref name="Roberts2009" />}}
In October 2004, Casteel interrogated "a self-professed jihadist" from Saudi Arabia.<ref name="Percy" /> Casteel later described his encounter "with the prisoner as almost mystical, an apotheosis."<ref name="Percy" /> When Casteel asked the Saudi prisoner "why he'd come to Iraq to kill" the jihadist turned the tables and asked Casteel, "Why did you come to Iraq to kill?"<ref name="Percy" /> He further claimed that Casteel failed to "follow Christ to pray for those who persecute you, or pray for your enemies" and "to turn the other cheek, to love those who hate you."<ref name="Percy" /> The experience provoked a spiritual crisis in Casteel leading him to apply for conscientious objector (CO) status.<ref name="Percy" />
After Casteel applied for CO status, he was assigned to guarding a burn pit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesreporter.com/news/20171027/letters-from-abu-ghraib|title='Letters from Abu Ghraib'|access-date=13 April 2018|archive-date=13 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413124843/http://www.timesreporter.com/news/20171027/letters-from-abu-ghraib|work=The Times-Reporter}}</ref> He left Iraq and returned to Iowa in January 2005.<ref name="Percy" /> Six months after applying, the Army approved his application as a CO and granted him an honorable discharge in May 2005.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Percy" />
==Post-army career== Casteel graduated from the University of Iowa in 2008 with a dual master of fine arts degree in playwriting and non-fiction writing.<ref name="Gazette1" /> He was enrolled at the University of Chicago's Divinity School in 2010.<ref name="Allen" /> Casteel converted from Pentecostalism to the Anglo-Catholic form of Anglicanism before eventually converting to Roman Catholicism.<ref name="Roberts2009" /> As a public speaker on religious and political matters, Casteel addressed audiences in the US, Ireland, Sweden, Italy and the UK.<ref name="Casteel" />
He was an active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Allen" /> Casteel was featured in the documentary films ''Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers'' and ''Soldiers of Conscience''.<ref name="Allen" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lunaproductions.com/soldiers-of-conscience-the-movie/|title=Soldiers of Conscience|publisher=Luna Productions|access-date=3 March 2018}}</ref>
In 2019, a ''Smithsonian'' article entitled "The Priest of Abu Ghraib" profiled Casteel and discussed his theological struggles while interrogating Muslim prisoners in Iraq.<ref name="Percy" /> The author, Jennifer Percy, met Casteel in 2009 when they were classmates in the Iowa Writers' Workshop.<ref name="Percy" />
===Stage performances & writings=== {{Blockquote|quote=Joining the army is not a sacrament, it's a pagan allegiance.|author=Joshua Casteel |source=''Letters from Abu Ghraib'' (1st ed.) <ref name="Casteel" />{{rp|91}}}}
On 19 June 2006, Casteel shared the bill with Václav Havel, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, and Jeremy Irons at the Royal Court Theatre for his solo performance of his play, ''The Interrogation Room''.<ref name="CasteelAQR2008">{{cite web |last1=Casteel |first1=Joshua |url=https://aqreview.org/returns-a-play-in-one-act/ |title=Returns: A Play in One Act |work=Alaska Quarterly Review |date=Fall–Winter 2008 |access-date=24 August 2019 |archive-date=25 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825052442/https://aqreview.org/returns-a-play-in-one-act/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In May 2007, the play was again performed in New York City on the Atlantic Theater's Stage Two as part of the National MFA Playwright's Festival.<ref name="CasteelAQR2008" /><ref name="BWW2007">{{cite web |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Theater-Masters-to-Present-National-MFA-Playwrights-Fest-20070508 |title=Theater Masters to Present National MFA Playwrights Fest |work=Broadway World |date=8 May 2007 |access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref> Casteel's ''Returns: A Play in One Act'' was performed at the University of Iowa, Columbia College Chicago, De Balie (Amsterdam), and at Princeton University.<ref name="CasteelAQR2008" /> The ''Alaska Quarterly Review'' published ''Returns'' in 2008.<ref name="CasteelAQR2008" /><ref name="GGN2008">{{cite web |url=http://greenandgold.uaa.alaska.edu/blog/2169/alaska_quarterly_review_first_friday_reading_series_hosted_by_snow_city_cafe/ |title=Alaska Quarterly Review First Friday Reading Series hosted by Snow City Cafe |work=Green & Gold News |date=24 September 2008 |access-date=24 August 2019 |quote=... a powerful and important work of drama that reveals the war in Iraq through the eyes and heart of one who was there |archive-date=25 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825052434/http://greenandgold.uaa.alaska.edu/blog/2169/alaska_quarterly_review_first_friday_reading_series_hosted_by_snow_city_cafe/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Also in 2008, excerpts of Casteel's emails from Iraq were published in ''Harper's Magazine'' and in book form as ''Letters from Abu Ghraib'' with a foreword by Christopher Merrill.<ref name="Casteel" /><ref name="Casteel2">Casteel, Joshua. "The Monk of Abu Ghraib". ''Harper's Magazine''. Vol. 317, No. 1901. 1 October 2008. p. 22.</ref><ref name="Merrill">{{cite web |last1=Merrill |first1=Christopher |url=https://www.vqronline.org/misc/joshua-casteel-1979-2012 |title=Joshua Casteel (1979-2012)|work=Virginia Quarterly Review |date=20 September 2012 |access-date=23 August 2019}}</ref> In the fall of 2008, the ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' published "Combat Multipliers", a reflection by Casteel on a mural adorning the Army chapel at Abu Ghraib and an attack by insurgents on the compound while he was assigned there.<ref name="CasteelVQR2008">{{cite web |last1=Casteel |first1=Joshua |url=https://www.vqronline.org/vqr-portfolio/combat-multipliers |title=Combat Multipliers |work=Virginia Quarterly Review |date=24 September 2008 |access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref> A second edition of ''Letters from Abu Ghraib'' was published in 2017 by Cascade Books with a new foreword by Stanley Hauerwas.<ref name="Casteel3">{{cite book |last1=Casteel |first1=Joshua |editor1-last=Clair |editor1-first=Joseph |editor2-last=Casteel |editor2-first=Kristi |title=Letters from Abu Ghraib |edition=2nd |location=Eugene, OR |publisher=Cascade Books |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-4982337-3-6}}</ref>
==Death== Casteel died of lung cancer in New York City in New York-Presbyterian Hospital on 25 August 2012.<ref name="Allen" /><ref name="Gazette2">Erin Jordan. "[http://thegazette.com/2012/10/26/cedar-rapids-family-blames-burn-pit-in-iraq-for-sons-cancer-death/ Cedar Rapids family blames burn pit in Iraq for son's cancer death]". ''The Gazette''. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2013.</ref> An oncologist told Casteel's mother that "Joshua died of lung cancer without having any of the conventional risk factors such as smoking, asbestos exposure or radiation ... I am quite sure we did not have anyone younger with lung cancer those five years I worked at the VA."<ref name="Gazette3">Erin Jordan. "[http://thegazette.com/2012/10/28/cedar-rapids-family-links-ex-soldiers-death-to-burn-pit/ Cedar Rapids family links ex-soldier's death to burn pit]". ''The Gazette''. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2013.</ref> Casteel's family believes his cancer was the result of exposure to toxins released by a burn pit he slept near for six months in Iraq.<ref name="Gazette3" /> He was a University of Chicago Divinity School graduate student at the time of his death.<ref name="Allen" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote|Joshua Casteel}} * "[http://www.catholicpeacefellowship.org/wp/wordpress/co-support/we-go-on-record/statements-from-military-objectors/army-c-o-application-by-joshua-casteel/ Army C.O. Application by Joshua Casteel]" on the Catholic Peace Fellowship web site. Retrieved 23 August 2019. * "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM98TuV-RB0 Joshua Casteel: 'To Love One's Enemies'] ", a video clip from ''[http://lunaproductions.com/soldiers-of-conscience-the-movie/ Soldiers of Conscience]''. Retrieved 21 June 2013. * "[http://www.thepointmag.com/2010/essays/call-of-duty Call of Duty]", an essay by Casteel on military-themed first-person shooter video games. Retrieved 14 August 2013. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20171016135709/http://joshuacasteel.com/ joshuacasteel.com] (archived), a site about Joshua maintained by his family. Retrieved 23 August 2019. * "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120628145033/http://essaypress.org/books_authors_jcasteel.html Authors – Joshua Casteel (archived)]," a short biography on the Essay Press web site. Retrieved 18 December 2014. {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casteel, Joshua}} Category:1979 births Category:2012 deaths Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:American anti-war activists Category:United States Army personnel of the Iraq War Category:American Christian writers Category:American conscientious objectors Category:American military writers Category:Christian pacifists Category:Converts to Anglicanism Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Category:United States Army soldiers Category:United States military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison Category:Writers from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Category:Writers from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Category:Military personnel from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Category:Military personnel from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Category:Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)