Dishonor
Sorry, I have no sympathy whatsoever for this person.
In a rare case of officer dissent, a Fort Lewis Army lieutenant has refused orders to head out to Iraq this month to lead troops in what he believes is an illegal war of occupation.
1st Lt. Ehren Watada was scheduled to make his first deployment to Iraq this month. His refusal to accompany the Stryker brigade troops puts him at risk of court martial and years of prison time.
"I feel that we have been lied to and betrayed by this administration," Watada said Tuesday in a telephone interview 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."
In making his decision, Watada has reached out to peace groups, including clergy, students, some veterans opposed to Iraq and others. Some war critics are raising money for his legal defense as they seek to galvanize broader opposition to Bush administration policy in Iraq.
"There has been an outpouring of support in the Puget Sound area," said David Solnit, who works with the anti-war group Courage to Resist. The group and others are helping organize a press conference today in Tacoma to launch the support campaign.
Watada met over the weekend with Olympia peace activists, and had hoped to attend the press conference. But after a Tuesday meeting with an Army colonel, he was given written orders not to attend during duty hours between 6:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Instead, he expects to offer a video statement.
The anti-war people are rallying around him and do not see the long-term repercussions of this. This is a refusal to obey a lawful order. It is not the place of a junior officer to second guess the elected Commander and Chief and the duly elected members of Congress who voted to go to war. It is not the place of a junior officer to contact peace activists in hopes of getting out of the consequences of his actions. This is not heroic, this is cowardly.
Do you want a military that decides not to obey lawful orders? I'd rather not have one, thank you.
Mr. Watada fears the Army will want to make an example out of him. I rather suspect Mr. Watada is correct. The Army should, must and will punish him for this. But his troops are ever so much better off without him.
UPDATE: Others: Confederate Yankee, Wizbang, Stop the ACLU and Riehl World View, Euphoric Reality, MFVOV , Small Town Veteran, bRright and Early, The Sandbox,
Other Links to this Post
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Dishonor Update — Thursday, 6 July , 2006 @ 1:29 pm
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Dishonorable Support For A Dishonorable Act — Wednesday, 23 August , 2006 @ 11:22 am
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » General Court Martial For Watada — Friday, 25 August , 2006 @ 5:57 am
By Gaius, Thursday, 6 July , 2006 @ 1:31 pm
It helps stabilize output. It will only help for a limited time (until the water runs out) and they can only do it at all because demand drops enough at night that they have a surplus of electricity available.