10 Comments so far

1. namvet67 February 9th, 2007 5:27 pm

   Lt. Watada is the Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, Jr., of the war in Iraq. Watada and Thompson are both American heroes for trying to prevent the loss of innocent lives. Thompson paid dearly for his bravery in Vietnam. I hope Watada survives better.
   Hoa Binh

2. mustbefree February 9th, 2007 6:14 pm

   Heard a comment be Paul Hackett to the effect that Lt.Watada should have gone to Iraq because in the Army you don’t get to pick which war or ,whether,you go or not because he did join.This is a false premise as the Constitution makes clear.If the law is followed to the Constitution Lt.Watada is correct.Either we have laws or the pols can just make it up as they go along.Tony

   Do you see?

   Do you see where this people go with this law “the military commissions act of 2006”?

   Did we not cross the Rubicon when we went to Iraq and utterly destroy a nation and murder over 600,000 children, men and women that had nothing to do with what happened on 9/11?

   A secrecy in a government “of the people, for the people and by the people”? To protect a corrupt cabal, to be sure, and a word, homeland, brought from an earlier time in Germany. Is this de javu?

   To propose a law so diametrically opposed to the Constitution sent my heart into a tailspin and to see the congress breach their oath to defend the Constitution with a bevy of excuses that would stump a teen. It makes me sick.

   Fear is a cancer, safety is not freedom and only freedom under the Constitution would guarantee what safety we would have. This is not politics to me, this is the most serious of attacks undermining this nation. The road to an oven.

   Support the troops? So long as they are someone else’s. Is not this a nation of 300 million and in war are not all to sacrifice? Show me where this is so. It is an abomination. The German said: They came for other different peoples but not him until finally they came for him. He did not speak up and there was none to speak for him. Will they come for you?

   Read ‘em and weep, Tony

   Samuel Adams:
   “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom,-go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”

3. Karol Klein February 10th, 2007 7:52 am

   Lt.Watada is THE hero and all of us who oppose bush and cheneys stupid, stupid, stupid, mass murder support him.It is not he who is on trial here but the aforementioned criminals and we as Americans demand that these criminals first resign from office, than be tried for MURDER.

4. MichaelPDA February 10th, 2007 9:30 am

   Lt. Watada, an articulate, thoughtful, young man, deeply searching his heart and conscience so that his actions will be noble and just.

   If only the cold, calculating, self-serving members of the Bush Administation had such courage to act with such ethical nobility.

   As a Buddhist text states:

   “I am the owner of my karma .
   I inherit my karma.
   I am born of my karma.
   I am related to my karma.
   I live supported by my karma.
   Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit.”

   The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya V.57 - Upajjhatthana Sutta

   …the choice of Lt. Watada is the lesson of one knowing that by the fruit the tree is known, that karma is action. The tall tree Lt. Watada that is borne of makes him a noble being of the utmost bravery.

5. Katie February 10th, 2007 12:16 pm

   Lt. Watada has demonstrated that one person can make a difference. It is time we all follow his example and do what Molly Ivins suggested — bang pots and pans in the streets, demonstrate, write to congress people, make known our objection to this illegal war. I am also sending my congress people pictures (one every day) of military personnel who lost their lives in Iraq — see http://www.truemajority.org. All that I can do are small things, but I think if we all do whatever small things we can, it will amount to a groundswell!

6. mary lou February 10th, 2007 5:18 pm

   the federal telephone excise tax was ended late last summer. you can claim a one time credit for paying it when you file your federal taxes. if a zillion of us file, as is our right, the federal government loses that much money that would go toward this war. pay attention and file. and ehren watada? a seminal figure. or, in simpler language, a hero. to know your rights is to gain.

7. bellthecat February 11th, 2007 9:35 pm

   Lt Watada is the american people’s savior, he has shown us the way…justice must prevail.

8. toni r February 12th, 2007 12:05 pm

   Unfortunately this war will not end until the current administration is gone.

   Congress is too busy debating “non-binding” resolutions, while the Vice President is stating loud and clear that the Adminstration does not care what the people want. So what is the point of the resolution. Perhaps the wake up call sent to Congress during the last election was not loud enough.

   I give Watada credit for having the courage to do what our elected officials (Republicans and Democrats) should be doing…but are too timid to do. It appears that they are all worried about their political futures to deliver to the American people what we are demanding.

   I further believe that significant changes in Congress are imminent. Furthermore, I urge everyone who cares about our country to have second and third thoughts about giving their vote to anyone who voted to give the President the authority to go to war. Clearly, they had access to information that the American people did not have. They should have known that the plan to invade Iraq was the same Feith/Wolfowitz plan that had been presented to George HW Bush. The same plan that George HW Bush would have nothing to do with. These people have been hell bent on this plan for decades. If everyone in Congress who voted to authorize this war had done their homework and put the interest of the United States before the interest of their political future, we would not be in this mess now.

   The war will not end until we speak louder to Congress about our dissatisfaction; until the folks in Congress start losing their jobs.

   It is my hope that all Americans contemplate their votes with great care, unlike the members of Congress have.

9. officer_of_the_empire February 12th, 2007 4:29 pm

   Lt. Watada speaks from a false premise. The first Gulf War ended in a cease fire, a UN resolution signed by both parties. Resolution 687 states:

   Decides that, as a condition of a cease-fire, Iraq shall unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or rendering harmless, under international supervision, of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents and all related subsystems and components and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities, as well as all ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometres and related major parts, and repair and production facilities, and that a Special Commission shall carry out on-site inspection of any locations in Iraq.

   Note the mention of missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometers. At the start of Gulf II, I was in Kuwait, and an Ababil-100, the first of many, was intercepted just short of our base in Kuwait. The missile had travelled over 200 km to reach us. Therefore, Saddam had illegal weapons and was in material breach of the cease-fire. If a party violates a cease-fire the war is back on. The Iraqis failed to disarm, so Gulf I never really ended, and Gulf II was merely resuming hostilities. No need for another resolution, no logical way to brand Gulf II an illegal war, unless UN resolutions are just so much toilet paper. Good luck as assistant oil-sump officer of Fort Lewis, Lieutenant Watada.

10. bnwepixuvuxy January 1st, 2008 6:05 am

    titcazopirixy…

    exhysasiruso…

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