more supporting the troops

Ehren Watada Leads The Way Out Of Iraq

By Amy Goodman

King Features Syndicate, Posted on January 31, 2007

http://www.alternet.org/story/47485/

You can jail the resistors, but you can't jail the resistance. George Bush,
take notice as U.S. Army Lt. Ehren Watada is court-martialed next week.
Congress, take heed. Young people in harm's way are leading the way out of
Iraq. It is time you followed.

Watada was the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. He
joined the military in March of 2003. He believed President Bush's claims
that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, connections to 9/11 and
al-Qaida, and that Iraq was an imminent threat to the United States.

After signing on, he studied intensively to be well-prepared to lead troops
in Iraq. His studies, and the daily news coming out of Iraq of civilian
deaths and no WMDs, led him to the conclusion that the war was not only
immoral, but also illegal.

On June 6, 2006, Watada said: "My moral and legal obligation is to the
Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders.... 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."

He refused to deploy. The Army charged Watada with missing the troop
movement, contempt toward officials and conduct unbecoming an officer.
Watada hoped that his court-martial would be a hearing on the legality of
the war. He was not claiming conscientious objection; rather, he says, he
simply refused an illegal order. He offered to resign his commission. He
offered to serve in Afghanistan. The Army refused his offers. A military
judge ruled Watada cannot present evidence challenging the war's legality
nor explain what motivated him to resist his deployment order.

On our "Democracy Now!" news hour, Watada said of his upcoming Feb. 5
court-martial, "It will be a non-trial. It will not be a fair trial or a
show of justice. I think that they will simply say: 'Was he ordered to go?
Yes. Did he go? No. Well, he's guilty.'"

Several journalists to whom Watada spoke were subpoenaed in order to
testify, first at his pretrial hearing, then at the court-martial. The
journalists fought back, and in each case, the Army backed down. Sarah
Olson, one of the independent journalists involved, said, "I am glad the
growing number of dissenting voices within the military will retain their
rights to speak with reporters."

Dissent within the military against the war in Iraq is growing. Iraq
Veterans Against the War has quadrupled in size in the past year. More than
1,200 soldiers have signed on to an "Appeal for Redress," with which
active-duty soldiers can appeal to Congress for an end to the war with legal
protections against retaliation from the military. The appeal simply reads:
"As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I
respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt
withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in
Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to
come home."

Sgt. Ronn Cantu signed the Appeal for Redress, which soldiers can do
confidentially online at appealforredress.org. In a "Democracy Now!"
exclusive, Cantu spoke to us over a crackly cell-phone connection from the
front lines in Iraq: "I'm scared out of my mind right now.... It's a belief
of the soldiers I've talked to that any troop increase over here, it's just
going to be more sitting ducks, more targets."

Since Watada and other active-duty resistors are facing years in military
prison, I recently asked two of the most progressive members of the new
Senate, Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, what
Congress could do for the soldiers facing court-martial. Both replied, "I
don't know." As Congress wrangles over nonbinding resolutions condemning
Bush's war-making -or as he calls it, his "surge" -these brave young
patriots are making binding decisions.

Without Congress taking decisive action, these soldiers are left to fend for
themselves. How many must die, how many must be sent to prison or flee to
Canada, before the U.S. Congress ends this war?

Amy Goodman is the host of the nationally syndicated radio news program,
Democracy Now!