8 Comments so far

1. Earthian February 5th, 2007 12:44 pm

   Lt. Watada is in some good company in saying that the US invasion of Iraq was illegal. Here is a statement saying the same by a former chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials after WWII:

   Bush and Saddam Should Both Stand Trial, Says Nuremberg Prosecutor

   Aaron Glantz
   OneWorld US
   Fri., Aug. 25, 2006

   SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 25 (OneWorld) – A chief prosecutor of Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg has said George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes along with Saddam Hussein. Benjamin Ferencz, who secured convictions for 22 Nazi officers for their work in orchestrating the death squads that killed more than 1 million people, told OneWorld both Bush and Saddam should be tried for starting “aggressive” wars–Saddam for his 1990 attack on Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.

   . . . (there is more)

   http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/138319/1/

   Where are all the other Lt. Watadas in the US military?

2. ezeflyer February 5th, 2007 5:17 pm

   I served in the Army during the Vietnam War after going through ROTC in college. Most of us were drafted however. Personal involvement hit home and stopped the war then, while the sons, daughters and grandchildren of our chickenhawk politicians now bask in their fame and fortune, far away from the blood and guts of war or worries that they will be drafted.

   Now what is the difference between a volunteer army and an army of cheap corporate mercenaries? I don’t really know, although I feel for those youngsters without a future who enlist to escape McJobs or to not become drug entrepreneurs. At least the Blackwater mercenaries get paid a lot more for taking the same risks.

   Volunteer servicepersons now have a stake in their “business” because war, like the private prison industrial system, has become a publicly traded growth industry.

   If we had a draft, there would be a lot more Lt. Watadas.

3. Brown February 5th, 2007 7:32 pm

   Lt. Watada is beyond rarity in human beings in the current programmed world of human robots in U.S. society: A PERSON OF CONSCIENCE. And he chose not only to think it, then go back to the “program of blind obedience”–he chose to follow through. What he is doing is one of the most courageous things anyone can AND SHOULD do–”obeying The Inner Counsel”.

   Counterpoint and 180* polar opposites are the twin cowards Bush and Cheney (who got nowhere near the coverage for their cowardice that this man is getting for his bravery)who found ways to escape Vietnam, tails hidden in asses.
   (Not that THAT war was in any way more honorable.)

   I hope that history will remember 1st. Lt. Watada kindly and as the true American hero that he already is.

4. oldtimer February 5th, 2007 11:33 pm

   They will make an extreme example out of him to put fear others that are against the war that Isreal got Bush in with their lies about the nonexistant WMDs.
   The Mossad motto is “By Deception, Thou Shalt Do War”

5. lophat February 6th, 2007 2:52 am

   What other proof do we need to show that our invasion of Iraq was illegal, and how can we thus, rightfully justify the continuous killing of the thousands of Iraqi men, women & children by our soldiers who will forever bear the guilt & emotional scars? Lt. Watada has my respect!

6. Buckoo February 6th, 2007 10:47 am

   Lt Watada is exercising his God given right to change his mind. We must remember that the current President and Vice President never fought. Mr. Bush nor Mr. Cheney have never risked their lives for a caused that they did not beleive in.

   By what authority does any human deny another his “God given Will to choose”? Why would any other Country want this type Democracy?

   This soldier must be pardoned and allowed to return to a vocation more suited to his temperment

   America’s Christian community must not stand by and watch this evil injustice.

7. oldtimer February 6th, 2007 11:30 am

   He already has a predijudis judge….

   http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020607J.shtml

8. Graham February 6th, 2007 5:16 pm

   I believe, following orders has already been discounted as an excuse for committing war crimes as per the judgment at the Nuremberg trials. So, how can a man of conscience justify fighting a war knowing he will be committing a war crime.

   Its the Officers who give the orders that should be on trial and that includes the Commander in Chief as well as all those leaders from the “coalition of the duped” — sorry — “willing.”

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