Army Officer Still Refuses To Go To Iraq (Watada)

AOL News ^ | June 11, 2008 | Ada Calhoun

[jazusamo]

Plenty of former officers have criticized the Iraq War, but there's only been one active duty career soldier who's not only come out against the War but also refused to go and fight in it. (He said he would go to Afghanistan instead, but that the Iraq war is "illegal").

That soldier is Lt. Ehren Watada, 30, a junior Army officer from Hawaii who's become a poster child for the anti-war movement. He's also become persona non grata within the military and is facing a possible sentence of six years in prison.

Our friend Tara McKelvey is the first journalist who has gotten close to him in more than a year. She's written an amazing story for The American Prospect about Watada, who's now in legal limbo and being subtly punished at a desk job.

Watada's critique of the Iraq War's legality is boosted by the recent release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on prewar Iraq intel. And his commitment to doing what he thinks is right is impressive. He told McKelvey:

"I realized we had been lied to. I was standing out in the middle of the desert, and I had a deep sense of betrayal. I had joined an army, and I thought it was noble. And to think we had engaged in something that had caused so much carnage and destruction and then to find out it was unnecessary. There I was in uniform, and I felt ashamed of what I was being asked to do. I think there's no bigger crime than taking your country into a war based on lies."

At the same time, someone else is just going to go in his place, and so members of the military are understandably angry at him for refusing to get on the plane. (They're even madder about his very public statements opposing the War.) Paul D. Eaton, a retired Army major general who was one of the retired generals who in 2006 called for Rumsfeld's resignation said, "Watada is an active-duty soldier, and he has failed to obey the orders of the officers over him. He does not have the right."

Read the article here. What do you think, is Watada a hero or a criminal?

[jazusamo]

Interesting comments at the end of this article. Some people have it exactly right when they say Watada is no hero and that he was charged for disobeying a legal order and not for his beliefs.

It is easy to see why Tara McKelvey is the first supposed journalist to get close to Watada in more than a year, her article is a typical leftist antiwar hit piece.

Also, the link of the "recent release" they refer to is a Fox News piece of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report and almost two years old.

[RexBeach]

Sounds like Mr. Watada owns a yellow stripe...down his back.

He is a soldier. Soldiers obey orders.

[Uncle George]

GENERAL PATTON—— What would you do with him sir ????????

[llevrok]

Ok then. Alrighty.

Then send him to Afghanistan. On a solo recon mission. Fresh, bright new BDU's. In the mountains. It's legal.

[Grizzled Bear]

Watada is no hero and that he was charged for disobeying a legal order and not for his beliefs.

He is a soldier. Soldiers obey orders.

He joined during the war. He obviously has an agenda.

Bust him down to E-1 and have him serve his commitment on "weeds and seeds"

[lesser_satan]

...Watada, who's now in legal limbo and being subtly punished at a desk job.

Is it punishment, or did they put him there so he can't f#$k up anything important?

[GT Vander]

Check your history. This is willfull disobediance to orders and could be construde as cowardice. If memory serves the UCMJ stills lists those as offenses punishable by death by firing squad or some such less punishment. There was a time before we became to civilised that the answer would have been easy - find a convient wall and eight soldiers with loaded weaponds.

[jazusamo]

The thing is he was an officer assigned to a Stryker Brigade that was deployed to Iraq and has completed it’s deployment and already returned.

He deserves to be assigned to Leavenworth, IMO.

[ElectricStrawberry]

Just think of his affect on his unit’s cohesion and morale.....firing squad.

[isrul]

Six years? How about a noose or firing squad?

[jazusamo]

His being assigned to a desk is not punishment, it is a place to put him until the decision is made by a federal judge or 9th Circus Appeals court on his court-martial. The Army is going to keep him right there until that is decided.

[NativeNewYorker]

Ehren K. Watada was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Robert Watada and Carolyn Ho. His father served for 10 years as executive director of Hawaii's Campaign Spending Commission and himself refused to serve in the Vietnam War.[5] Ehren Watada attended Punahou School...

Above from wikipedia...note family pattern, and attendance at Hussein's old school.

[jazusamo]

I agree completely but that isn’t going to happen now, I think he’d have been shot for pulling this in WWII.

[Non-Sequitur]

What do you think, is Watada a hero or a criminal?

No question; criminal. He refused to obey a lawful order from his superiors.

[NTHockey]

Let’s see - mine clearing, ambush detector, radiation cleanup, bullet catcher, artillery target - just to name a few.

[jazusamo]

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, his dad protested the Vietnam war and joined the Peace Corps to avoid the draft.

Ehren joined for educational benefits and got them, IMO. He should be made to pay every dime back.

[jazusamo]

No question; criminal. He refused to obey a lawful order from his superiors.

Absolutely! His opinion of the Iraq war has nothing to do with disobeying a lawful order.

[Tennessee Nana]

1. Why did he enlist knowing there was a war going on ???

2. Why did he re-enlist knowing that there was a war going on ???

3. Do pledges meant nothing to him ????

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I was trying to calculate how long the Lt. can look forward to being in uniform. His current efforts before a federal judge will take about a year, then as long as three years for the appeals process, and *then* his court martial, followed by a possible sentence of six years.

He might not get out of the military until 2018. That is, assuming he doesn’t still have any further obligation that he will have to meet as a private, when all is said and done.

[GT Vander]

Eddie Slovack (spelling?) WAS shot for cowardice in WWII.