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June 07, 2006

'Brave' Officer?

Officer at Fort Lewis calls Iraq war illegal, refuses order to go
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.

Smash and I were talking about this clown this past weekend and we both agreed that this guy knew exactly what he was getting into when he accepted his commission. To 'suddenly' have second-thoughts (to me) shows that he doesn't have the capability to think ahead or think-on-his-feet. Not a really good quality in being an officer.

To me, he's being just Four-kinds-of-stupid™ and in his 'reaching out to peace-groups', he's well on his way to becoming another tool - just like SWWNBN and Pablo "Patooey" Paredes.

It'll take months before anything happens to this officer, but I do know that he's gonna hate being busted to E-1 and being thrown in the stockade.

Hey pal - it'll suck to be you, but you know what you're getting into.....

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Hmm. Your perspective is interesting.

He joined the Army knowing full well he would likely be sent to Iraq. When he enlisted, he did it because he believed, as did most Americans, that Iraq had WMD.

We now know that this was fabricated by the administration, as were most of the other reasons laid out as justification for the invasion.

We all know that if Bush had said, "We're invading Iraq to force a democracy upon them" that they would not have had the public support needed to prosecute the war. This was supposed to be about fighting Radical Islam, not participating in Nation Building - which is all we are doing.

How is it not honorable to say that you won't fight in a war that was based upon lies? Where do you draw the line where, "I was just following orders" is not a justifiable defense?

|| Posted by The Other Mike S, June 7, 2006 01:08 PM ||

We now know that this was fabricated by the administration, as were most of the other reasons laid out as justification for the invasion.

Ahem.....that's a personal perspective and I'd rather not beat that dead horse again here.

How is it not honorable to say that you won't fight in a war that was based upon lies? Where do you draw the line where, "I was just following orders" is not a justifiable defense?

What?

It's not a question of whether the war is legal or not - it isn't up to each member of the military to debate this. Their job is to follow orders dictated by the civilian government. Period.

And what is this stuff about 'following orders'? That makes no sense.....at least in the topic at hand.

|| Posted by Mad Mikey, June 7, 2006 07:36 PM ||

There are PLENTY of things about the military that I don't agree with, but I have to go along with them. He's just being a loser and a coward and a loser-coward.

|| Posted by Dave, June 8, 2006 02:08 AM ||

Mikey: It is not my personal perspective. The admin has stated there were never any WMD, thus no threat was posed. When an administration states, "We know the WMD are here, here and here", or other similar such statements, and that proves to be wrong, is that not lying? They didn't say, "We're making a wild-ass guess that he still has WMD", he said we KNEW what he had, and where it was.

The WHOLE THING is about refusing to follow orders. He is refusing an order to deploy because he feels the war was engaged under false pretenses. He was ready to fight, and proved that by signing up.

Dave: I'd like to know some of the things you disagree with. Do any of them involve killing people? That's this guy's disagreement.

And I'll pose the question again:

How is it not honorable to say that you won't fight in a war that was based upon lies? Where do you draw the line where, "I was just following orders" is not a justifiable defense?

|| Posted by The Other Mike S, June 8, 2006 10:39 AM ||

The WHOLE THING is about refusing to follow orders. He is refusing an order to deploy because he feels the war was engaged under false pretenses. He was ready to fight, and proved that by signing up.

I agree with your first point Mike S. Lt Peacenik is refusing orders. Lawful orders at that.

Soldiers dont get to choose which orders they will follow, they dont get to second guess the chain of command, and they dont get to choose which battlefields they will fight on. If he didnt know that when he signed up, he definately knew it by the time he accepted his commision.

Everything else you have to say is softer than puppy sh*t.

(Edited by Site Owner - speak nicely!)

|| Posted by Toe-Cutter, June 8, 2006 03:10 PM ||

Toe cutter.... yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah. Answer my question, or is your mind softer than puppy sh*t?

|| Posted by The Other Mike S, June 8, 2006 09:07 PM ||

I think he did the most honorable thing of his life, ie: flush his life and career down the toilet over here instead of over ther with men under his command. The opinion of this L/Cpl is he should have just took the gas pipe and saved us all this drama.

|| Posted by Ron Fowler, June 9, 2006 01:34 PM ||

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