Yet another similarity with Vietnam...
Lieutenant Ehren Watada, faces a court martial for refusing to deploy to Iraq and for making public statements against the war. He is the first officer [since Vietnam] to be prosecuted for publicly criticising the war... If he is convicted on all charges, Lt Watada could spend four years in a military prison.
Lt Watada, 28, argues that to serve in Iraq would betray his conscience and his duties as an officer. "It would be a violation of my oath because this war to me is illegal in the sense that it was waged in deception, and it was also in violation of international law," he told the Guardian. "Officers and leaders have that responsibility to speak out for the enlisted and certainly when we do so it comes with more consequences, which is what a leader should do. A leader can't just go with the crowd."
The best part:
The Pentagon maintains that Lt Watada gave up his right to free speech when he put on the uniform.
Translation: When you put on the uniform to defend American rights and freedoms, you give up those rights and freedoms which you put on the uniform to defend.
And speaking of great ideas, Bush's new budget requests more money for war and less for health.
1 comment:
I read an article about this soldier. I admire him for his courage. I hope the statement that he is making is heeded by the powers-that-be.
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