Truthdiggers of the Week: The Military Refusers
Update: Yahoo!'s Kevin Sites interviews Watada. We tip our hat this week to Army Lt. Ehren Watada and the dozens of uniformed military men and women like him who have publicly refused deployment to Iraq.
Update:
Yahoo!’s Kevin Sites interviews Watada.
We tip our hat this week to Army Lt. Ehren Watada and the dozens of uniformed military men and women like him who have refused to serve in Iraq.
You can see a list of many of those who have refused to deploy to Iraq here.
Watada’s case is of particular importance, however: Not only was he the first uniformed officer to resist his deployment, but his legal struggle is shaping up as an indictment of the war itself. His lawyers argued before a military judge this week that they should be allowed to present evidence that the war is illegal — because it violates U.N. guidelines. Read about this landmark legal fight here.
Read about the larger trend of Iraq combat vets refusing redeployment to Iraq here.
Read about a conscientious objector who this week won a peace award for the principled stand he took after serving in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Read an impassioned letter by the wife of a 10-year Army veteran who filed a conscientious objector award after serving a combat tour in Iraq.
Correction: This article incorrectly characterized Army Lt. Ehren Watada as a “conscientious objector.” Watada has stated publicly that he would serve in Afghanistan, but refuses to serve in the Iraq war which he believes is illegal.
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The court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada has been ruled a mistrial because of a dispute over a pretrial agreement. Watada's attorney, Eric Seitz, called the ruling a "significantly positive event," and said he hoped it would put an end to the case.
The court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to go to Iraq, began on Monday with the judge refusing to allow most of the defense's witnesses to testify. Watada's civilian lawyer, Eric Seitz, had some harsh words for the judge: "If you are going to tie my hands and you are going to script these proceedings, then in my view we're all wasting our time."
The military is trying to coerce freelance journalist Sarah Olson to testify against Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to go to Iraq. Olson, whose story about Watada appeared on Truthout.org, has resisted the military because, in her own words: "Journalists should not be asked to participate in the prosecution of political speech."
Carolyn Ho has gone to Washington to fight on behalf of her son, Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to go to Iraq. Watada faces court-martial and six years in military prison for abstaining from a war he believes is illegal.
First Lt Ehren K Watada is one of only a handful of officers who have taken such a stand, and is apparently the first to face a court-martial for doing so He wrote: "I am wholeheartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership"
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