The people running the Iraq war are eager to make an example of Ehren Watada. They’ve convened a kangaroo court-martial. But the man on trial is setting a profound example of conscience — helping to undermine the war that the Pentagon’s top officials are so eager to protect.
“The judge in the case against the first U.S. officer court-martialed for refusing to ship out for Iraq barred several experts in international and constitutional law from testifying Monday [Feb. 5] about the legality of the war,” the Associated Press reported.
While the judge was hopping through the military’s hoops at Fort Lewis in Washington state, an outpouring of support for Watada at the gates reflected just how broad and deep the opposition to this war has become.
The AP dispatch merely stated that “outside the base, a small group that included actor Sean Penn demonstrated in support of Watada.” But several hundred people maintained an antiwar presence at the gates, where a vigil and rally — led by Iraq war veterans and parents of those sent to kill and be killed in this horrific war — mirrored what is happening in communities across the United States.
Many of the most compelling voices against the Iraq war come from the men and women who were ordered into a conflagration that should never have begun. Opinions may be debatable, but experiences are irrefutable. And the devastating slaughter that the U.S. war effort continues to inflict on Iraqi people has a counterpoint in the suffering of Americans who are left with unspeakable grief.
In direct resistance to the depravity of the Bush administration as it
escalates this war, Lieutenant Watada is taking a clear and uplifting
position. Citing international law and the U.S. Constitution, he points
out that the Iraq war is “manifestly illegal.” And he adds: “As the
order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I
must as an officer of honor and integrity refuse that order. It is my
duty not to follow unlawful orders and not to participate in things I
find morally reprehensible.”
Watada says: “My participation would make me party to war crimes.”
Outside the fence at Fort Lewis — while the grim farce of
Watada’s court-martial proceeded with virtually all substance ruled out
of order — the criminality of the war and the pain it has brought were
heavy in the air.
Darrell Anderson was a U.S. soldier in Iraq. He received a
Purple Heart. Later, he refused orders to return for a second tour of
duty. Now, he gives firsthand accounts of the routine killing of Iraqi
civilians. He speaks as an eyewitness and a participant in a war that
is one long war crime. And he makes a convincing case that “the GI
resistance” is emerging and pivotal: “You can’t call yourself antiwar
if you’re not supporting the resistance.”
At Fort Lewis, outside the gates, I met Carlos Arredondo. He’s
traveling the country in a long black hearse-like station wagon, with
big photos and letters from his son Alexander plastered on the sides of
the vehicle. At age 20, more than two years ago, Alexander died in
Iraq. Now, a conversation with Carlos Arredondo is likely to leave you
in tears, feeling his grief and his rage against this war.
“When the Marines came to inform Arredondo of his son’s death
and stayed after he asked them to leave, he set their van on fire,
burning over a quarter of his body in the process,” the Boston Globe
has reported. Carlos and his wife Melida Arredondo are now members of
Military Families Speak Out.
Among the speakers at a nearby event the night before Watada’s
court-martial began was Helga Aguayo, whose husband Agustin Aguayo is a
U.S. Army medic now charged with desertion. After deployment to Iraq in
2004, he applied for recognition as a conscientious objector, without
success. During a year in the war zone, he refused to put ammunition in
his weapon. Today, he is looking at the prospect of up to seven years
in prison.
Many others in uniform are struggling to extricate themselves
from the war machine. Information about some of them is available at: www.couragetoresist.org.
Soldiers have to choose from options forced upon them by the commander
in chief and Congress. Those who resist this war deserve our gratitude
and our support. And our willingness to resist as well.
Ehren Watada faces four years in prison. Half of that
potential sentence has to do with the fact that he made public
statements against the war. The war-makers want such honest courage to
stop. But it is growing every day.
Norman Solomon’s latest book, “War Made Easy: How Presidents and
Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death,” is out in paperback. He is
executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.
As a veteran of Lt. Watada's former 2nd Infantry Division army unit when it was long ago stationed in Korea near the DMZ, I applaud his principled stand.
Just because I volunteered, took the law enforcement training, and donned the uniform and badge of a police officer does not mean I agreed in advance to become part of the Department's death squad.
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February 08, 2007
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The people running the Iraq war are eager to make an example of Ehren Watada. They’ve convened a kangaroo court-martial. But the man on trial is setting a profound example of conscience — helping to undermine the war that the Pentagon’s top officials are so eager to protect.
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