8/22/2006

Lt. Watada is a "disgrace"

Lt. Watada is the Army officer who earned his commission after the war on terror started. The Army helped pay for his education and he in turn agreed to serve. He subsequently decided that the invasion of Iraq was unjust so... when his unit is deployed to Iraq, he refuses to ship out. Pretty convenient. Hey Watada!! the invasion is over!!!!! Iraq is now occupied and the troops there are preventing a civil war and large scale sectarian violence. If all the allied troops pulled out, there would be enormous atrocities. To go to Iraq and assist in the stabilization of the legitimately elected Iraqi government is moral and just. I think you have been studying too many Democratic Party talking point memos... Didn't you get taught to think when you went to college?

Here's what Japanese-American veteran groups have to say about Watada.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have listened to the apologists from the left say that it is Watadas' solemm obligation as a soldier do disobey any unlawfull order.

In fact it is part of the UCMJ that he do so.

Well,.......Watada refused to mobilize and go to Iraq when he was orderd. The problem is that The order to mobilize and move from point A to point B is most certinly a lawfull order.

He states that it is an unlawfull war.........The problem is that a 20 something year old Lt. is not the leagl authority to determin that. We have a duly elected civilian authority (the president and congress) that have debated,voted and approved the war in Iraq. Just as the constitution directs.

No U.S. laws have been broken in ordering Watada to Iraq.

Remember, Watada swore an oath to defend and protect the very constitution that he is now disregarding.

Reguardless of what other countries in the world may think.

His oath is to the United States.

I think he has foolishly allowed himself to Be persuaded by the anti war crowd (who risk nothing)
to do this and he will most certainly be found guilty in a cort martial.

Honestly I'm glad he didn't go.

Our young men and women in harms way deserve leadership that exibits far better judgment than Watada has exibited.

Someone who lacks a well reasoned decision making prosess has no buisness leading soldiers.


Sergant First Class (Ret.)

Lignarious Rex.

8:12 PM
Pyrosapien said...

Amen brother, Amen!!

10:00 PM
Xactiphyn said...

As one of those liberals against the war, I certainly hope Watadas gets court martialed. Military personnel do not get to chose the wars they fight in. This is not the same as our right to hold our elected officials accountable for getting us into this self-destructive situation in the first place.

I also agree with you that now that we are there we can't just leave. We can't "win" either; it isn't like there is someone we can get to sign surrender papers or anything, but we can try to keep the civil war from escalating or turning into a full case of ethnic cleansing. Ultimately, the solution will be political, though, not military. (If only the politicians in power understood that, there might still be a chance to pull this one out; don't hold your breath.)

I will say this about Watada, though. If he fully realized and accepted he would be court martialed and locked behind bars for many years he has some of my respect. Real civil disobedience means accepting the consequences. But I'm not under the impression this was the case.

11:26 PM
Pyrosapien said...

Mark,

"We can't "win" either; it isn't like there is someone we can get to sign surrender papers or anything, but we can try to keep the civil war from escalating or turning into a full case of ethnic cleansing. Ultimately, the solution will be political, though, not military."

To use a "Bushism", our leadership misunderestimated the ammount of insurgent/guerrilla opposition we would encounter and overestimated the effectiveness and zeal of those Iraqis of goodwill. As for arriving at a political solution, I'm unsure of how that can occur when the opposition is violent philosophy and not a nation-state. Not that I disagree, I just can't see the political path.

Pyro

6:38 AM
Xactiphyn said...

Basically, there is a three way civil war going on between the Sunni, Shiite, Kurds in which we haven't taken a side. As I understand it, there is no single set of "insurgents," they come from a variety of groups each with their own goals. At this point I believe most are just seeking revenge for wrongs (killed loved ones, etc.) in a typical escalation pattern in an ethically charged region.

I'm not sure what a political solution would look like. At this point I think the best chance of success would be to let the country divide into its three natural regions. As you probably know Iraq isn't a "real" country, it was created by the British in a quite arbitrary and artificial manor. Only overpowering leaders like Saddam could keep it together.

But I'm no expert, obviously. The point is real experts and grownups need to be brought to the table. This cowboy foreign policy is a miserable failure.

10:08 AM

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