FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- A U.S. Army officer who refused an order to deploy to Iraq, pleaded not guilty on Monday to several charges at a court-martial that calls into question the right of officers to speak out against the war.First Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, faces a charge of missing movements when he refused to ship out to Iraq with his brigade last summer, and two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for statements criticizing the war as illegal and immoral.
Watada, whose supporters say he is the first Army officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq, could face up to four years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if he is convicted on all charges.
... 4 years would be going easy on him! This will be a great test case to see how far Left the military has gone.
7 comments:
It's one thing to disobey an illegal order, it's another to disobey an order to deploy in a congressionally-approved invasion into a foreign country (Iraq).
This "Lt" doesn't have an argument. And again, this will be a test case to see how "lost" our military (establishment) has become.
Tiger, greetings!
Watada had a mistrial, so it looks like round two in a few months.
Just curious though,
Why do you think the military establishment is "lost"?
Sure, an argument can be made that the military's efforts in Iraq are not going well, certainly.
But one could easily argue that the entire foundation that Operation Iraqi Freedom is based upon was suspect, and if you did, could you rationally expect the military to be "winning" at this point?
But if you are not referring to the military's prowess in Iraq, why do you believe the military is lost?
The military has not had serious problems maintaining discipline, despite nearly six years of war in two theaters, along with other military committments around the globe.
Check in with any Army brigade combat team, or special forces battalion, a few weeks prior to deploying into Iraq and Afghanistan, and see how many serious discipline problems there are - not too many.
The fact that LT Watada is such an anomaly is a testament to the fact that the military is far from lost.
Just a thought.
Cheers!
Tiger,
Your post and comments kickstarted the neurons in my brain, and I ended up eighting a full-fledged post as a result.
Check it out.
I meant writing, not eighting. What the hell were my fingers thinking when I typed that????
Bob W!
I'm coming at it from an "old Army" perspective.
"Back in my day", as the old timers say, we still had Army WACS, some brown boots were still visible (not desert boots), etc. I was in 6 years. Airborne Ranger and later 20th S.F. (never became a full-fledged Green Beret, though)
Over the years the military establishment has gone from teaching it's officers hard learned lessons of leadership to training them as business leaders. We set up seperate Mosques for Muslims on Marine Bases, purposely place women in harms way, and GOD forbid if somebody says the wrong thing or the PC machine will eat 'um alive. Many examples can be dredged up; Abu "Grab" for instance. Are you telling me no officer knew about that? They finally got around to that, didn't they? Psyops guys in Afghanistan burning a dead body to entice the fight - a good tool to use, in my way of thinking - but Rummy wanted to punish those guys. Capt. Allen West being punished for firing a .45 close to a guys head? Hell, that technique was taught as a tool when I was in!
So, you may see my point. I'm not saying our wonderful troops are headed wrong, but our leadership is! Let's see how soft and "lost" our leaders will be concerning Watada.
Bob, I'll get to your site today but must be out for awhile this morning.
Thanks for the visit.
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