The Therese Defarge school of Social evo

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The court martial Of Lt Watada

Today what will likely be a significant trial in United States history, the court-martial of 1^st Lt. Ehren Watada for conduct unbecoming an officer and for missing a troop movement as a result of his refusal to deploy in Iraq. Lt. Watada stand is based on moral and legal obligations in regards to what is an unlawful, unjust and immoral war of aggression that is a direct result of lies and misinformation intentionally told by the President and his administrations. The response from the US armed forces as expressed by Joseph Piek that “soldiers can't just pick and choose which war they would like to fight or where they would like to deploy” fails to recognized the reality of deception contained within this wars specific history. 1^st Lt Watada is not making a choice based on personal preference, likes, dislikes, or any other will of the wisp. 1^st Lt Watada has placed himself in legal jeopardy for the singular reason, recognized now by the vast majority of the worlds population, that the war with Iraq is an illegal war of aggression brought about by the lies of one man and his cronies. The legal and military history of the past century has recognized the responsibility of individuals to refuse orders that violate international law.

Despite the false witness of the Bush administration neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq had any connections with September 11^th or with the Al Qaeda. Nor was their any viable evidence that indicated the existence of weapons of mass destruction. The evidence that was presented by the Bush administration was false and was known to be false by the administration at the time. The Bush administration purposely misled the population of the US and it's allies in order to use the single greatest tragedy in our nation history to advance their own immoral agenda. Recent surveys of the populations of some of the United States' closet allies ( Britain, Canada, and Israel) show that much of the world considers our president one of the greatest threats to world peace. Americans need to use the trial of 1^st Lt Watada to come to grips with the reality that our leaders have been criminal renegades who have initiated unprovoked wars in all likelihood for the profit of those leaders and their close associates. Iraq oil reserves and control of them lie at the heart of the US occupation of Iraq, and the profiteering of this war has been blatant with contracts consistently been awarded to companies like Haliburton with close ties to the administration. Our national interest in Iraq oil reserves go beyond our greedy thirst for oil as the worlds largest consumer of that rapidly depleting resource. Our influence and control over oil creates a world market where US dollars are needed to buy oil, so that the need by industrial countries to consume oil serves to prop up the value of the US dollars. Yet despite this substantial conflict of interest most Americans, even many against the war, continue to see the US as an neutral influence in the growing civil war our aggression has initiated.

This is at the heart of the controversy of 1^st Lt Watada's refusal and his court martial. If by any chance 1^st Lt Watada succeeds in defending his refusal to deploy, his innocents can only be demonstrated by an acknowledgment of our nations guilt in conducting an illegal and immoral war.

This is way in all likelihood 1^st Lt Watada will be found guilty in a trail that history will acknowledge was neither fair or just. Before the trial has even begun Lt Watada A judge already has ruled that Watada cannot question the war's legality as a defense yet any objective legal or political evaluation of his case will understand that this is not only an important point but the primary issue underlying. Unless others in the military begin to embrace their duty to defend the constitution against a corrupt leadership that lied to it's citizens and allies, initiate a war of aggression and sustained an occupation of a country whose resources we covet 1^st Lt Watada will be forced to play the martyr. The military is not alone in shirking it's responsibility, congress, both democratic and republican, has failed in continuing to support a war they know and acknowledge is wrong. Nor is it just militarizes that conduct war. The economy of an entire nation is required to sustain a war, particularly one so far beyond a nations borders. Each American, EVEN if they oppose the war in protest, support the war by allowing our nation to go on with business as usual. The Vietnam war was not ended by voting or by petitioning our leaders. Rather it was ended by disobedience and non-co-operation, by refusal to fight by soldier, by refusals to work by citizens, by the taking over of college and federal buildings. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people who collect on the Mall last weekend and in other protests over the past few years Americans have not truly begun to oppose the war by refusing to force it's end by refusing to continue with business as usual.

In my heart and mind I cannot but see that 1^st Lt Watada will in all likelihood be convicted in bias and unfair trial, sentenced by officers less responsible and less courageous then himself. I think even now we must begin to wrestle with this truth and how we must respond to it. Will 1^st Lt Watada's brave stand go down in history like the rioting of Catholic women that freed their Jewish husbands from Hitler's SS? A rare and forgotten anomaly in the face of wide spread compliance? The time for compliant protest peppered by occasional and symbolic arrested has past. The time for broad popular non-co-operation has long since come. We, as a people, need to begin things like general strikes, even if only day long, mass civil disobedience, divesting stocks and government bonds, canceling credit cards. It is a fact that most Americans oppose the policies of their leader, it seems as well that most Americans lack the courage and conviction to take a significant morale stand against what they know to be wrong. If 1^st Lt Watada succeeds in winning his day in court, he may well succeed in winning a major victory that will contribute to ending this war. If, as is more likely he is unjustly convicted history will call on others to do more. Let us not allow 1^st Lt Watada's conviction be the silencing of truth but a call of alarm to incite the American people to their historic duty. We should begin planning now for how we can act in such a way to make a meaningful difference.

Elizabeth Parenti-Soba

posted by: EzizabethParentiSoba at 13:35 | link | comments |
, iraq war, us military, watada

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