In an event in Washington, veterans and soldiers have urged other members of the military to join them in speaking out against war in Iraq.

Thursday has kicked off the four-day 'Winter Soldier' event in Washington, organized by Iraq Veterans against the War (IVAW) that urged other military personal to speak out against US atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Camilo Mejia, the first conscientious objector to the Iraq war and chairperson of the board of Iraq Veterans against the War spoke of a groundswell of resistance within the US military to the war in Iraq, which will enter its sixth year later this month.

"Servicemen and women are refusing en masse to participate in this war. I have seen a rapid and inevitable growth of dissent within our ranks," Camilo Mejia said.

At the 'Winter Soldier' event some 200 soldiers will give eye-witness testimonies about what they lived through during their deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and afterwards.

Vietnam veterans held a 'Winter Soldier' event in 1971 at which more than 100 servicemen and 16 civilians described atrocities committed against innocent civilians in South Vietnam.

The name 'Winter Soldier' is derived from the "summer soldier" described by American Revolutionary War writer Thomas Paine in "The Crisis:"

SG/HAR