Posted on 06/07/2006 8:12:06 AM PDT by presidio9
An Army officer who was born and raised in Honolulu is refusing to go with his unit to Iraq because he says the basis of the war is illegal and immoral.
27-year-old First Lieutenant Ehren Watada is with the Stryker unit out of Fort Lewis, Washington. Watada is the son of former state Campaign Spending Commission executive director Bob Watada.
"I feel that we have been lied to and betrayed by this administration," Watada said Tuesday in a telephone interview with the Seattle Times from Fort Lewis. "It is the duty, the obligation of every soldier, and specifically the officers, to evaluate the legality, the truth behind every order — including the order to go to war."
His attorney Eric A. Seitz says Watada submitted a letter to his command in January stating he had serious reservations about the Iraq war and felt he could not participate in it.
Seitz says a few months later, at the Army's suggestion, Watada resubmitted his request to resign.
"They took their time," says Seitz, "but then they informed him in early May that they were not going to let him resign."
Seitz said Watada, who turns 28 on Thursday, will hold a news conference Wednesday to explain his reasons for defying the Army.
According to KOMO-TV in Seattle, Watada wrote in a letter that he refuses to watch families torn apart while the president tells America to "stay the course." Watada's father, who is from Hawaii, says his son is taking a bold step and he is proud of him.
Joe Hitt, a civilian spokesman at Fort Lewis, an Army post about 40 miles south of Seattle, confirmed that Watada is a member of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit held a deployment ceremony Friday and will begin leaving later this month for its second mission in Iraq.
Hitt said the Army is aware of Watada's plans but had no comment. "We have nothing to say about it because nothing has happened, and we're not going to speculate on anything," Hitt said.
Watada, a native of Honolulu, enlisted in the Army in 2003 after graduating from Hawaii Pacific University. He reported for boot camp in June of that year and began officer candidate school two months later.
Watada's commission requires that he serve as an active-duty Army officer for a three-year term ending Dec. 3, 2006.
"By his refusal to participate in the ongoing war, Lt. Watada joins a growing number of high-ranking military officers, West Point graduates and current and former members of the armed services who have expressed their opposition to the actions of the United States in Iraq," says Seitz.
Seitz says Watada could be court-martialed if he refuses to serve as ordered, unless the Army allows him to resign his commission or assigns him to duties that are not directly connected to the Iraq war.
The Seattle Times reports that Watada has reached out to peace groups, including clergy, students and some veterans opposed to Iraq. Some war critics are raising money for his legal defense as they seek to galvanize broader opposition to the Bush administration's Iraq policy.
Watada is not alone in refusing to go to Iraq. Sgt. Kevin Benderman, an Army mechanic among the enlisted ranks in Fort Lewis, is serving a 15-month sentence at a base correctional facility for refusing a second tour of duty in Iraq, according to the Seattle Times. Benderman served in Iraq in 2003 but refused to return in January 2005, the newspaper notes.
Why don't they just make these people pay back all them money they've cost the government in training, housing and wages...then they can go. Other than that, throw them in the stockade!
I was in the Montana National guard and we were told that it was not up to the enlisted or commissioned members to decide if a deployment was right or wrong. Maybe things have changed.
I'm sure they'll let him out of the Army - After he serves his sentence.
Another PX "soldier".
A fine example of the left's sterotypical dirt-poor Middle-American HS dropout with no other option but to join up and follow orders for a few years in the hope of a better life...
There's a First Lieutenant that will never, ever see Captain's Bars...bars of some sort maybe, but not those of a Captain.
Can you spell C-O-W-A-R-D? Bet he didn't have these pangs of guilt when he was cashing his (Army) paychecks at the PX. In lieu of Iraq, he can go to Ft Leavenworth, KS to mull things over for 24 months.
This guy enlisted in 2003... before or after April invasion of Iraq??? War has been ongoing for 3 plus years. He's about to go to Iraq and patrol outside the wire with Strykers and then suddenly finds the Iraq War to be personally morally objectionable??? Truly sounds like he's gotta yellow streak or was some sort of anti war mole. Either way, cashier him if he fails to do his duty and give hard time somewhere.
Coward.
Didn't have any issue cashing those paychecks as long as you got to do it from somplace cushy.
I know a lesbian couple where 1 was in the reserves.. when she got notice she was going to be deployed, the other womans brother knocked her up, so she wouldn't have to go.... Gotta love narcissists. No issue taking the pay, but when they have to live up to their obligations and its not what they want, they just cry and whine and cheat and steal.
That's just wrong ...
Hang the gutless little b*stard. Support our troops.
I have NO respect for you Whatada POS. A trader and coward by not going along to support your teammates.
send him to Kansas as a Buck Private for a few years
Say Hello to Leavenworth.
Ooooohhh....I see an Article 88 in your future....
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