Posted on 11/10/2006 10:37:10 AM PST by Caesar Soze
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 9, 5:20 PM ET
SEATTLE - An Army lieutenant who challenged the Bush administration's reasons for going to war in Iraq and then refused to deploy to the country will face a military trial, the Army said Thursday.
Fort Lewis commander Lt. Gen. James Dubik recommended that the Army proceed with a general court-martial against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada.
Watada, 28, was charged with missing troop movement, conduct unbecoming an officer and contempt toward officials for comments he made about President Bush.
The Army later added another specification of conduct unbecoming an officer based on his comments in Seattle during the national convention of Veterans for Peace in August.
Dubik referred only the charges of missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer, the Army said.
The officer, from Honolulu, has said he believes the war is illegal. He was first charged after he refused to deploy to Iraq on June 22 with his Fort Lewis Stryker unit, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
At an Article 32 hearing Aug. 17, prosecutors showed video footage of Watada at the veterans' convention, calling on other soldiers to stop participating in U.S. involvement in Iraq.
If convicted of all charges, Watada could serve six years' confinement and be dismissed from the service. No date has been set for the trial.
In any other war in any other place he would have been shot.
It's traditional.
His parents are hippie peace activists. He's doing this to establish his bona-fides for his upcoming decades of being a left wing pain in the ass.
If that's the case, shoot him.
Making Big-uns into Little-uns, as my First Class used to say.
That's right. He joined the Army ~after~ the Iraq war was well underway, specifically intending to be a disruptor.
Yes, you're right. Watada did join the Army after the Iraq war started. He's made a complete nuisance of himself speaking in front of adoring left wing audiences calling them the 'real patriots' in full view of their Palestinian flags and Che Guevara shirts.
I don't personally know what seven long years in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth is like, but I'm sure that at least on welcoming new inmates there's rigidly strict military penal discipline, excruciatingly long labor-filled days, and absolutely zero talking to anyone except by permission. Overly-bright fluorescent lighting, painted concrete walls and floors, and the smell of Clorox bleach everywhere he goes as he's escorted by military police. If he behaves in there, he might one day be allowed to watch 30 minutes of daytime TV idiocy and eat chow with a few other inmates in a cafeteria. Most prisoners in Leavenworth are there for sexual assault. Just think about seven years of that. SEVEN. Seeeeeveennn Yeeeaaarrsssss....
Talk about a chicken kamikaze pilot who just 'grazed the ship'. What an idiot. I hope his parents are proud of the trouble they helped get their dumbass son into.
No. This Brigade has already had about a dozen or so deaths and 2-3x that wounded from enemy action throughout our AO. Those men and women served honorably and did their duty. The least we can do to honor their bravery and devotion to duty is execute an utter coward like Watada.
Gee, I wonder why the ACLU isn't complaining about this. It's worse treatment than the murderers at Camp Gitmo get. Having worked in NY State prisons for 23 years, I'd prefer to see him shot, but unfortunately, we're too civilized for that.
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