Posted on 06/07/2006 5:22:55 PM PDT by Horatio Gates
UPDATED 3:58 P.M. A public appearance by an Army lieutenant who refuses to go fight in Iraq was postponed Wednesday after his commanders told him he couldn’t attend his press conference during duty hours. Lt. Ehren Watada’s supporters in the anti-war movement held their mid-day event at Associated Ministries in Tacoma anyway, and played a video recording of the 28-year-old Stryker soldier’s statement against the war.
They said he would appear at 6 p.m.
Watada says he won’t obey orders to deploy to Iraq with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which is leaving later this month for its second year-long assignment there.
In his statement, Watada said:
“It is my duty as a commissioned officer of the United States Army to speak out against grave injustices. My moral and legal obligation is to the Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders. I stand before you today because it is my job to serve and protect those soldiers, the American people, and innocent Iraqis with no voice.
“It is my conclusion as an officer of the Armed Forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law. Although I have tried to resign out of protest, I am forced to participate in a war that is manifestly illegal. As the order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must as an offficer of honor and integrity refuse that order.
“The war in Iraq violates our democratic system of checks and balances. It usurps international treaties and conventions that by virtue of the Constitution become American law. The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people with only limited accountability is not only a terrible moral injustice, but a contradiction of the Army’s own Law of Land Warfare. My participation would make me party to war crimes.
“Normally, those in the military have allowed others to speak for them and act on their behalf. That time has come to an end. I have appealed to my commanders to see the larger issues of our actions. But justice has not been forthcoming. My oath of office is to protect and defend America’s laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath today.”
Watada faces potential court-martial or other disciplinary action if he follows through with his refusal to deploy.
Officials at Fort Lewis on Wednesday said they had no information about any potential legal action against the lieutenant.
Watada joined the Army in 2003 after graduating from Hawaii Pacific University. After attending Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and served a year in Korea with an artillery battalion before arriving at Fort Lewis in 2005.
His supporters say he tried twice earlier this year to resign his commission but was denied. His lawyer said his three-year term of enlistment obligates him to remain in the Army until December.
Supporters say he is the first officer to refuse to deploy to the Iraq war.
An Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon said 10 other officers have refused deployment orders since Sept. 11, 2001, although she didn’t have additional information about those cases.
BS. You volunteered during war time and you are a now cancer to our fighting men. I hope Watada enjoys his time with his new code pink friends before he meets his friends at Leavenworth
WA ping
Enjoy prison.
The Hawaii State Senate tried to investigate him on accusations that he selectively enforced the law and engaged in bounty hunting. He is known for rendering fines, in a high profile way, for very minor infractions which could well be honest mistakes, at just the right time in an election. He is even quoted as saying that is a politician receives a fine there is a public perception that they did something illegal.
His father was also a member of the Peace Corps.
Lt. Watada is the son of a political operative with his own political ambitions. Ambition alone was not going to get him anywhere but this carefully crafted ploy will earn him a name in the Kerry mode. He joined the Army AFTER the occupation of Iraq, knowing full well that the occupation would last for years, and that in his given field he could well expect at least one set of orders to the area. His actions were deliberate and calculated. All Hail the new John Kerry.
It would be next to impossible to prove THAT in a Courts Martial. I hope the Army facilities this SOB's ambition, and gives him the maximum sentence possible on all counts. Nothing less then reduction in rank to E-1, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and ten years at hard labor (ten hours a day, seven days a week) and a dishonorable discharge! Of course, as soon as the next Democrat gets in the White House he will be released and receive a full pardon and restoration of his rights and benefits as a veteran.
His statement was right out of the Democrat talking points manual!
Sounds to me like this wet-behind-the-ears lieutenant is afraid to go into combat.
That occured to me too. Check out the pics at the link of his new friends
I believe the lowerthanwhaleshit scum sucker is on duty 24/7. What a frickin dirtbag.
Perhaps he will get worse than that... (via michellemalkin.com)
ART. 94. MUTINY OR SEDITION
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who--
(1) with intent to usurp or override lawful military authority, refuses, in concert with any other person, to obey orders or otherwise do his duty or creates any violence or disturbance is guilty of mutiny;
(2) with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or disturbance against that authority is guilty of sedition;
(3) fails to do his utmost to prevent and suppress a mutiny or sedition being committed in his presence, or fails to take all reasonable means to inform his superior commissioned officer or commanding officer of a mutiny or sedition which he knows or has reason to believe is taking place, is guilty of a failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition.
(b) A person who is found guilty of attempted mutiny, mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court- martial may direct.
__________________________
Sounds to me like he is refusing, in concert with other people, obey orders or otherwise do his duty with intent to usurp or override lawful military authority. That would make him guilty of mutiny, which is punishable by death.
He betrays, too, the men he's supposed to lead.
The SOB thinks he is the Commander in Chief and the elected President of the US. What a delusional coward. He will soon find himself returned from his alternate universe to the harsh realities of life on earth and the shame and disdain about to descend upon him. Lt. Watada has brought shame upon himself, his family, his fellow soldiers and the United States Army. I cannot think of a worse fate awaiting him.
Physically remove him to Iraq when his unit goes. Keep him confined over there during all the endless preliminaries in his lawsuit, then bring him home in order to try him and let the chips fall where they may.
How in the heck can you go through OCS, Gunnery School and then join a Stryker brigade and NOT think that all that training would be used for anything less than blowing sh*t out of things and people on behalf of your country.
Not to mention, he signed up after Sept 11.
Book 'em, Dano.
Article 88—Contempt Toward Officials.
and
Article 134—Disloyal Statements.
I hope the scumbag keeps opening his mouth...the JAG/Offs are going to be fighting to get his case.
I don't know the legalities of an officer resigning their commission but I would think when he enlisted there was a contract and it sounds like he has not fulfilled it.
If true he should be brought before a Courts Marshal and if convicted given a maximum sentence. He should be made an example of.
j
Isn't this desertion? Can't he be shot?
Well, let's see how the military court system feels about that. My guess is that they have a different perception of the legalities of this war than the young lieutenant.
What I don't understand is why somebody with his convictions would join the Army in the first place.
I suppose there are really stupid people out there but this guy had an agenda when he took the oath...imho
While it's great red meat, what Malkin isn't pointing out is the key words, "in concert with". You cannot mutiny by yourself, it must actively involve two or more people.
Among other things,the Lieutenant is clearly a red diaper baby.
Is it true this guy hasn't even been near a combat zone?
And that he joined AFTER the war started?
I smell a ringer.
See Post 10.
It's not Desertion, it's Mutiny.
And, yes, he can be shot.
Lt. Ehren Watada, center, with his niece Kodie Watada and his father, Robert, who opposed the Vietnam War.
Check out post #4. His daddy has a long history.
He made this recording with the intention that it be distributed by somebody else. That is acting in concert, isn't it?
Lets send him a sharp tanto for the purpose of Seppeku!
He has to be working in concert with other members of the military. I'm sure this tape was distributed by his legal team or media consultants.
I believe you're right on all counts. It's a shame it will be next to impossible to prove. The turd has no honor.
j
Lt. Ehren Watada = COWARDESS get out of the way Ehren Watada may you rot in levenworth
He was supposed to be at the press conference today, but went to his quarters to sulk after the command ordered him to stay on post during duty hours.
He has a website which was down for a couple hours today as his handlers scrubbed off the Ayman Al-Zarqawis, Osama bin Ladens, Micah Wrights, etc. from his supporters list. Here it is in case any of you are feeling creative.
His father was a Hawaiian politician, according to this lefty blog:
http://www.seattlest.com/archives/2006/06/07/fort_lewis_dissenters_hawaiian_roots.php
Watada joined in 2003, thinking he could be done with his obligation and out and then be that most beloved form of lefty politician, a "veteran" candidate. He expected to finish his obligation and REFRAD in December 2006.
Then along comes this July (?) deployment. Watada asked to be left behind since he was planning to leave. He was refused. He asked to resign early. He was refused. (Stop-loss policy is about, among other things, going to war with the same leaders and relationships you conducted your train-up with). Then after consulting an attorney he discovered a deep-seated objection to the war that requires that his precious pink hiney be kept far from IEDs and other hazards to his future career as the John Kerry of the GWOT.
From : http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/military/story/5795894p-5178126c.html
"Watada joined the Army in 2003 after graduating from Hawaii Pacific University. After attending Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and served a year in Korea with an artillery battalion before arriving at Fort Lewis in 2005.So there you have it. What he's fighting is stop loss. He didn't have a political beef for 2 1/2 years, until he showed up on orders.His supporters say he tried twice earlier this year to resign his commission but was denied. His lawyer said his three-year term of enlistment obligates him to remain in the Army until December."
Coward.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
A calculating coward. Am taking bets to see when he joins Sheehan and other Morons on Parade.
I don't see anything in there about the other person being in the military. But I don't really know, so I will defer to anybody who does.
The articles (charges) are under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice; they only apply to members of the Armed Forces.
But he's wrong on all points and I hope he serves jail time.
Any of you WA Freepers listening to Bryan Suits radion show on KVI 570 this afternoon?
This is the third posting of this same story, and I suspect the professional pity-partiers are posting it over and over, everywhere and anywhere. The lieutenant is a coward and a disgrace, but lacks the moral fortitude to desert and risk the consequences when apprehended. Therefore, his commanding officer should forcibly deploy him wherever and whenever the unit goes, and keep him there in detention throughout the deployment, and then see to his court martial at the command's convenience. Despicable little cowardly pri*k.
LOL...had me going there for a minute. I was just perusing the UCMJ
As an Commissioned Officer he is in essense actively recruiting any subordinate.
In any event their are a number of charges they can nail this POS with.
Too bad.
Murtha's work in now having its intended effect.
As a matter of fact I just turned KVI on
Three words....
Try, convict, SENTANCE
Pat Tillman bitched as well, about this supposed "illegal" war, and his fellow Rangers had to put up with his whining...but he still DID his job. You could do the same.
While Ft. Lewis does have a small confinement facility, the convening authority can ask that he be assigned to a more fitting and security facility. That would probably put him in the Navy brig over in Bremerton; a more secure facility run by Marines. It also has the advantage of being a long drive for his legal team, a long drive for him to his courts martial (in chains) and...did I mention is was run by Marines?
Resigning a commission in the face of deployment to a war zone is tantamount to desertion. A resignation need not by accepted. The coward ought to be deployed with his unit, or court-martialed for disobedience to his lawful order, and since he is a coward and a reprobate, maintained under restriction unarmed in the war zone until the unit returns home and the command has the leisure to court-martial the cowardly pis**nt.
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