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Headlines : IraqWith Lt. Watada's Case, GI Resistance Grows
For now, there are dozens of members of the military who publicly support Lieutenant Watada. There are likely hundreds more who are watching anxiously in silence, waiting for an outcome in Lieutenant Watada’s case. They all say they view him as a true war hero, and believe in his efforts to end the Iraq war. They say he is fighting for what they believe in, and for that they are grateful. In Army parlance, they might say Charlie Mike: continue mission.
[Posted By ShiftShapers]Republished from AlterNet
Clifton Hicks was looking for a body. Specifically, the Army tank driver was fumbling about in the dark, looking for and failing to find the remains of the Iraqis who, moments before, had been firing on his tank. When Hicks’s flashlight swept the ground around his feet, he realized he was standing in the remains of a man. Literally. His boots wedged between the rib cage and the pelvis, blood and human organs squishing out from beneath the souls of his shoes.
It’s this experience and others like it that made Hicks question the war in Iraq. It also compelled him to support US Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada — the highest-ranking member of the military to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq.
28-year-old Lieutenant Watada disobeyed deployment orders on June 22, several weeks after announcing his opposition to the war at a press conference. He is charged with six violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: one count of missing troop movement, two counts of speaking contemptuously toward officials, and three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. An Article 32 hearing is scheduled for Thursday, August 17, to decide whether to proceed with a general court-martial.
Posted by ShiftShapers
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Watada recently made a speech where he said that if the anti-war movement is serious, (as in, we’re notjust doing it to excuse ourselves, but to actually stop the war) then we need to take a very specific action. We need to organize to provide support for the families of war-resisting soldiers. No soldier can refuse to fight in good conscience if money or healthcare or housing for their family will be taken away as a consequence. However, all those things are something the anti-war movement could help provide if we got organized. Imagine fundraing drives for the families of war-resisting soldiers, networks of screened volunteer child-care providers, anti-war doctors lining up to provide free care to the families, people with an extra room or two in their house offering to provide it rent free. None of that would be particularly difficult to organize, but imagine the effect it would have, in demonstrating that the anti-war movement is serious, that we have the soldier’s backs if they decide to act out of conscience, that we’ll take peaceful direct action against the government and hit them where it hurts. Personally, I think it would be brilliant.
“Here’s Mike Ferner’s take on the issue:“http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14545.htm
LT. WATADA’S COURAGEOUS DISSENT: As 28-year-old Lt. Watada faces a court hearing today, his refusal to deploy has revived a critique of the Bush administration’s war crimes in Iraq.