Thank You Lt. Watada
It was very encouraging to read this morning that First Lt. Ehren K. Watada of the Army has refused to deploy to Iraq on the basis of his opposition to the wars' illegality as well as "the deception used to wage this war," and "the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership." ( NY Times, 7/23/06).
This apparently was not a sudden or hasty decision by the lieutenant, who apparently did much soul searching and research before on Jan. 25th finally delivering a two-page letter to his commander Col. Stephen J. Townend asking to resign his commission.
According to the NY Times ;
Lieuntenant Watada said that when he reported to Fort Lewis that he was beginning to have doubts. "I thought it was my responsibility to learn about the present situation. At that time I never conceived that our government would deceive the Army, or deceive the people."
The same Times piece quotes the lieutenant as saying; "I was still willing to go until I started reading." Apparently he first read James Bamford's book A Pretext for War which claims that the war in Iraq was created by a small group of neocons in the Pentagon and "their allies in policy institutes." He also reportedly read Sy Hersh's book Chain of Command as well as selections dealing with the treatment of prisoners at Gitmo and the notorious Downing Street memo.
Lt. Watada, 28, is currently working behind a desk at Fort Lewis just south of Seattle, but according to The Nation Magazine (7/7/06) on July 5 he was charged by the U.S. Army with three articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), including two counts of contempt towards officials (Article 88) - specifically President Bush, three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman (Article 133) , and one count of missing movement (Article 87).
The lieutenant's lawyer claims they were expecting the missing movement charges but are surprised about the other charges. Lt. Watada has reached out to anti-war groups however and they have embraced him, helping raise money for his legal defense and circulating a petition on his behalf. The website www.thankyoult.org provides concerned citizens the opportunity to support his cause by making donations and/or signing the petition.
The Nation piece by Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith claims that Watada "could be sentenced to over seven years in a military prison," if convicted of all six charges. It is also clear however, that the lieutenant was well aware of the possible consequences of his actions when he decided to make this courageous decision. He clearly knows what he is facing but was nonetheless willing to pay that price.
Under the circumstance I think we should give the lieutenant that much more of our respect. This was not the reflexive action of a soldier in battle who leaps into harms way to protect a fellow soldier. This way was a carefully planned, and research-informed decision of a man struggling with a moral dilemma. He had sworn to serve his country, but not under false pretenses. He had signed up after 9/11 wanting to defend his country. At that time he didn't know what he obviously knows now.
We can only hope that other military personnel are inspired by the lieutenants' stand. Movements often start with a single person of high integrity and courage acting in the face of great opposition and sometimes grave personal consequences. The least we can do is to let Lt. Watada know that we are with him in spirit and give our names as concerned citizens who support the ending of the criminal abomination our so-called leaders call "The War on Terror."
Here are some links that I believe will be interested
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