Plenty of former officers have criticized the Iraq War, but there's only been one active duty career soldier who's not only come out against the War but also refused to go and fight in it. (He said he would go to Afghanistan instead, but that the Iraq war is "illegal"). That soldier is Lt. Ehren Watada, 30, a junior Army officer from Hawaii who's become a poster child for the anti-war movement. He's also become persona non grata within the military and is facing a possible sentence of six years in prison.
Our friend Tara McKelvey is the first journalist who has gotten close to him in more than a year. She's written an amazing story for The American Prospect about Watada, who's now in legal limbo and being subtly punished at a desk job.
Watada's critique of the Iraq War's legality is boosted by the recent release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on prewar Iraq intel. And his commitment to doing what he thinks is right is impressive. He told McKelvey:
"I realized we had been lied to. I was standing out in the middle of the desert, and I had a deep sense of betrayal. I had joined an army, and I thought it was noble. And to think we had engaged in something that had caused so much carnage and destruction and then to find out it was unnecessary. There I was in uniform, and I felt ashamed of what I was being asked to do. I think there's no bigger crime than taking your country into a war based on lies."
At the same time, someone else is just going to go in his place, and so members of the military are understandably angry at him for refusing to get on the plane. (They're even madder about his very public statements opposing the War.) Paul D. Eaton, a retired Army major general who was one of the retired generals who in 2006 called for Rumsfeld's resignation said, "Watada is an active-duty soldier, and he has failed to obey the orders of the officers over him. He does not have the right."
Read the article here. What do you think, is Watada a hero or a criminal?
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 7)
1. Watada is a hero in my book. We will have leaders making wars until the soldiers refuse to go for it. Stupid leaders, stupid wars.
Jerry Brown at 11:50AM on Jun 11th 2008
2. And furthermore, when ALL the soldiers 'wake up' about how they have been duped into fighting against a made-up enemy called 'terrorism', to fight a war of ecomonics to fatten the fat-cats, then it's going to get INTERESTING! To defend us against all enemies, foreign and domestic. What happens when the ENEMY is actually the corporations, those domestically fostered, globally aspiring entities that are the true enemies of freedom? Don't think it's true? Look around, people, the signs are obvious.
Robert at 12:24PM on Jun 11th 2008
3. Funny, my understanding of the UCMJ is that if a soldier obeys an order that he KNOWS is illegal, then he is just as guilty as the person who gave the order in the first place. Why is it different now?
Kris at 12:34PM on Jun 11th 2008
4. Because the war(s) we are engaged in are not OFFFICIALLY illegal.
Robert at 12:41PM on Jun 11th 2008
5. That's an easy one - CRIMINAL. He VOLUNTARILY joined the Army and with it comes responsibilities. His job is not to decide national policy. The President sent us to war (yes, I'm an active duty real Soldier) and Congress approved it. As a multiple Iraq veteran myself, I'm perplexed as to where he thinks he can get off as an officer refusing to obey LAWFUL ORDERS. He's a coward and deserves to be tried and punished as such.
I could care less what his stance is on the legitimacy of the war - he's a foot Soldier that is legally obligated to follow lawful orders and there is nothing unlawful about sending him to Iraq no matter how people want to spin it. If it were truly unlawful, the leaders responsible would have been brought to trial long ago.
CJ at 1:16PM on Jun 11th 2008
6. You don't "decide" which wars you'll participate in. If that were the case, I'd rather go to Colombia instead of back to Iraq OR Afghanistan!!
CJ at 1:19PM on Jun 11th 2008
7. As someone who attended Ehren's court martial last February, I can assure you that the mistrial which occurred was a travesty of justice. For those of us who were there, it was fully apparent that Judge Head had not only manipulated the trial up to that point by disallowing all of the witnesses Ehren would have called to testify to the illegality of the war, but also at the last minute calling the mistrial in order not to have Ehren testify. Now there is a temporary injunction handed down by the Federal Court in Tacoma by Judge Settles barring another court martial on what he feels Ehren has merit in his case, double jeopardy based on the mishandling of the first court martial. Ehren is stuck going to a desk job every day, unable to leave the military when his contract with them was up long ago. It is full time that justice be allowed to prevail for First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, our HERO, who refused to deploy to a war which is clearly in violation of the Nuremberg Principles.
Robin at 1:30PM on Jun 11th 2008
8. if any of our boys and girls in uniform find an order to be out of line, they can, "with all due respect" decline the order. but they had better have a damn good reason as to why. this kid looks like a whining hippy. the CIVILIANS are supposed to be the ones complaining, NOT the MILITARY personell. but as time goes on, he's being proven right over and over again. our beef SHOULD be with afgahvistan. it was from THERE the attacks on 9/11 were sent out. the only reason i can think of why we're in iraq is to finish what bush, sr couldn't get done for some strange reason. don't tell me that after it's obvious to anyone who can see and hear that we have to go to the guy around the corner b/c this is all his fault, when we all know it's not! one thing at a time ppl! take out osama, FIRST, then anyone else is a sure fire SECOND.
Devynn at 1:40PM on Jun 11th 2008
9. Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die
-Alfred Tennyson
Lt. Watada is wrong, plain and simple. Our job as a soldier is NOT to question orders. Especially when you are an officer! When this happens the Army breaks apart. Any army cannot function when a Soldier questions orders. Plain and simple.
And as an Offier, Lt. Watada is especially wrong. Officers are leaders in our Army, they are the example.
PERSONALLY: I no longer support this war. And I am GLAD people protest. We need people to be outraged by this war.
I am a soldier, I have served in Iraq, I have had 6 friends killed over there. I know what I am talking about here.
Lt. Watada, when you put on that uniform, you DO NOT have the right to question the orders of those above you. YOU DO NOT have the authority to speak out against the goverment.
As a citizen of the United States, you DO have that right, but do not wear your uniform when you do it.
Matthew Kurtz at 1:43PM on Jun 11th 2008
10. "It is full time that justice be allowed to prevail for First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, our HERO, who refused to deploy to a war which is clearly in violation of the Nuremberg Principles."
"...Judge Head had not only manipulated the trial up to that point by disallowing all of the witnesses Ehren would have called to testify to the illegality of the war, but also at the last minute calling the mistrial in order not to have Ehren testify."
-Robin
I am sorry Miss, but this has absolutely nothing to do with the legality of the war. It is a question as to weather or not this Soldier disobeyed orders. Plain and simple.
Basically, this would be like arguing at court over wether or not one should get a speeding ticket, by saying that the road should be faster. It just does not work that way.
And again, it is even worse that he is an officer.
Matthew Kurtz at 1:51PM on Jun 11th 2008
11. It is disrespectful to the other soldiers who are in Iraq risking their lives for us. If you feel something illegal has taken place, then take the appropriate steps to resolve that issue. Lt. Ehren does not have the right to "rule" that the war is illegal and that he is special and does not need to follow orders that he swore to follow upon his commission, failing to support his fellow soldiers. He is entitled to his opinion and beliefs, but this was not the way to go about things.
What happens when other soldiers decide to follow his lead? What happens when our adversaries realize our soldiers are not necessarily honorable or unified and take advantage of that weakness? If you are not prepared to give the same effort and committment as the rest of those in our armed forces, do not join and promise to put your country first. If you do, be prepared to follow through. Abandoning his fellow soldiers that are honoring their committment is not something that we should be describing as heroic behavior.
thinkin at 1:55PM on Jun 11th 2008
12. And excuse me this man is in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM A HERO A MAYRTER or ANY of that! He did his duty, as did all of us. HOW dare you refer to this man as a hero!
Here is a list of heros, google their names I DARE you! See what it means to be a hero.
SPC Raymond Spencer
SGT Ed Santini
SGT John Allen
SPC John Laundry
SPC William Davis
CPL Jermey Stacey
Matthew Kurtz at 1:57PM on Jun 11th 2008
13. Watada is a hero. Remember, he volunteered to go to Afghanistan before he was ordered to Iraq. He is standing up for what he genuinely believed was right, and he has already faced the jeopardy of going to prison for that once. Both Watada's attorney and the Military prosecutor had agreed on a stipulation of facts about the circumstances of Watada's refusal of the deployment. The stipulation was truthful and accurate. Watada admitted to the facts. The judge declared a mistrial because he determined that, as a matter of law, the deployment order was legal, and that therefore, Watada's acknowledgement of the order coupled with that ruling meant that 1. there was nothing to try on the facts, and 2. Watada could not explain why he refused, and since he had done so before the court-martial panel, the judge determined the case irrevocably flawed.
However--both Prosecution and Defense strenuously objected to the sua sponte mistrial. Both had worked long and hard to get the case to trial, and wanted resolution, and had carefully researched the points of fact and law. It boils down to this: Can an individually be reasonably mistaken about the lawfulness of an order? If so, there may be reasonable doubt as to his intention to disobey it, even if, in fact and law, the order is legal.
I thought, honestly, that LT Watada would be serving his time in Leavenworth by now, writing a book, and getting ready to return to civilian life. Instead, he has become the Army's Man in the Iron Mask, a constant reminder of the depravity of the decision making process leading to the Iraq War. But, since I was not physically at the trial, perhaps the Learned Military Judge felt that there was some reasonable chance that Watada was going to walk. The Learned Judge sure fixed that. The Learned Judge insured that we _might_ have a very fine new opinion by the Supreme Court on the meaning of double jeopardy and judicial misconduct. That's unless the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces writes a really good decision, nailing this down. If I were Watada, I think I'd rather the Court of Appeals do it, because I don't trust Scalia, Roberts, Thomas, and a few others. Luckily, Cheney isn't on the Court, because, well, when it comes to going to combat, he's got other "priorities." That's so he can wield a firm hand in disciplining those that do face the risk.
Afghanistan was the real deal. That's where we had a reason to be. And someone decided that it was not worth finishing off Al Qaeda in Tora Bora so we could ramp up for "Operation Canned Goods" in Iraq. Watada figured it out, before a lot of us did. James Buchanan and Warren G. Harding thank Mr. Bush from their graves. They are no longer the "goats" or most reviled Presidents. Bush says "history will prove him right." After all the lies, why should we believe him now?
And to Matthew K.--I have a name for you to look up-- Chief Inspector James Romito. Find out how he died in the collapse of Tower 1. I can see him now, smoking a cigarette, shaking his head and saying "you mean you don't finish the job against Al Qaeda, and then you go start somepin' else?
Major Tom at 2:21PM on Jun 11th 2008
14. CJ... your statement about wanting to go to Colombia instead of Iraq or Afghanistan shows your ignorance of the facts in all these countries.
David at 2:22PM on Jun 11th 2008
15. In regards to CJ's comments, a soldier is not obligiated to follow an order when it is illegal. The war in Iraq is illegal because it is based on lies and deception. As a former military policeman, I learned the UCMJ MCM quite well and can vouch for what is legal and what is not.
And as to those responsible for this action, they are war criminals in every definition of what came out of the Nuremburg trials. The problem with them being held responsible is that too many of our so called reps in Congress just look the other way instead of taking the action that they took an oath to do; that is, uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Their support of this illegal war shows the comtempt they have for the ideals that made America great in times past.
Coz at 2:34PM on Jun 11th 2008