H09414
Headlines : "War on Terror"Army officer says won't fight in "unlawful" Iraq war
“He is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to serve in Iraq and risked being court-martialed.“
According to the ‘with us or against us’ policy of our beloved President, Watada will likely be imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay as an enemy combatant.
[Posted By ByAnyMeans]Republished from Yahoo! News
TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – A U.S. Army officer said on Wednesday that fighting in the war in Iraq would make him “party to war crimes” and he would not go.
First Lt. Ehren Watada’s supporters — including clergy and a military family group — said he is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to serve in Iraq and risked being court-martialed.
The Pentagon said Watada was among a number of officers and enlisted personnel who have applied for conscientious objector status.
“The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people 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,” said Watada in a taped statement played at a Tacoma news conference.
His superiors at the nearby Fort Lewis military base would not let Watada leave the base to attend the press conference. Another news conference took place in Watada’s native Hawaii.
Watada, 28, had been scheduled to be deployed to Iraq for his first tour later this month. He joined the Army in 2003, and has served in Korea.
Watada said his moral and legal obligations were to the U.S. Constitution “not those who would issue unlawful…
Posted by ByAnyMeans
Lost and very much alone in the heart of the empire.
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Posted by TheHyperT on Tuesday, June 6th 2006
What you have done in God’s name? You mean invade, unprovoked, a Muslim country? Oh, was that done in “God’s name?” Just when I thought somebody couldn’t say anything more stupid or ignorant.
He is the first American commisioned officer but not the first officer. A british RAF doctor (Flt. Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith) has already been sent to Court Martial for refusing to return for a third tour of duty. he has made the argument that what he has been witness to in Iraq makes him believe that the war and the allies invilvement in iraq is illegal.
Also the first ever SAS trooper has quit on moral grounds. Trooper Ben Griffin no longer wishes to serve alongside US forces in Iraq due to the illegal tactics of US troops and the policies of coalition forces.
These people are proud professional soldiers who have served elsewhere and would willingly serve somewhere else, but not Iraq. Even the opinion of serving soldiers is changing.
This guy is a real hero. Being a hero isn’t about putting yourself in harm’s way to blindly obey orders (in the hope of a steady salary and free college tuition), it’s about putting yourself in harm’s way to do what you believe is right. Some on the right are forming a movement to protect the mass-murderers of Haditha; I say the left forms a movement to protect Ehren Watada.
My hat is decisively off to any dude willing to spend two years in Leavenworth for his principles. I’m not sure what I’d do in a similar position; I’d like to think I’d have the same courage as Watada does.
Indeed, let’s hope he inspires a few more.
http://hotair.com/
Attention: Link might trigger violent fit.
I take no responsibility for any loss, damage or injury arising from viewing.
-Sulk
Blaahhhh hack spitewy.
That’s like reading the comments of hundreds of Iffy’s. Post a warning or something.
Thanks.