Help urgently needed-Please support Lt. Watada's refusal to participate in illegal war!

[mahina]

Run time: 03:56 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa6ZHYcG_EM   Posted on YouTube: April 17, 2015 By YouTube Member: YouTube Help Views on YouTube: 6202102   Posted on DU: December 22, 2006 By DU Member: mahina Views on DU: 1062

 
The next few weeks may determine the outcome of the court martial of Lt. Ehren Watada's principled stand against the U.S. Army in refusing orders to deploy to Iraq. Lt. Watada is the first commissioned officer who had the courage to resist the Army's orders because the war in Iraq is unlawful. Lt. Watada's court martial is tentatively scheduled for February 5, 2006.

Here is a list of critical actions that we are you asking you take ASAP to support Lt. Watada and upcoming events to participate in! Please forward the letter writing actions to your friends, families and networks.

Letter Writing Action to gain support for Ehren!

A. Write individual and organizational letters of support for Lt. Watada to the U.S. Army. Ask the Army to accept Lt. Watada's resignation and to give him a discharge. Letters should be directed to:

Commanding General
Fort Lewis and I Corps
Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik
Bldg. 2025 Stop 1
Fort Lewis WA 98433

Copy to:

The Honorable Francis J. Harvey
Secretary of the U.S. Army
1500 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-1500

Also copy your Congressional member in House and Senate

B. Request that your member of Congress write a letter of support to the U.S. Army. The Congressional request to the Army should be to accept Lt. Watada's resignation from the U.S. Army. This request would bring Lt. Watada's court martial to a close.

Contact:

Senator Daniel Inouye
Email: http://inouye.senate.gov/abtform.html
Fax: [phone]
Mail: Senator Daniel Inouye
300 Ala Moana Blvd. Rm 7-212
Honolulu, HI 96850-4975

Senator Daniel Akaka
Email:
http://akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Fax: [phone]
Mail: Senator Daniel Akaka
300 Ala Moana Blvd., Rm. 3-106
Honolulu, HI 96850

Congressman Neil Abercrombie
Email: Neil.Abercrombie@...
Fax: (808) 533-0133
Mail: Congressman Neil Abercrombie
Prince Kuhio Federal Building
300 Ala Moana Blvd. Room 4-104
Honolulu, HI 96850

Congresswoman Mazie Hirono
Email: Mazie.Hirono@... (in January, 2007)
Mail: Congresswoman Mazie Hirono
Honolulu District Office Address:
5104 Prince Kuhio Federal Bldg.
Honolulu, HI 96850

Sample letter:

Dear Senator Inouye,

I write to ask for your leadership in support of Lt. Ehren Watada, a local boy who has become the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to the unlawful Iraq war and occupation. Along with tens of thousands of my fellow Americans, I support Lt. Watada's principled stance against this war.

Lt. Watada exemplifies true courage in his decision of conscience to refuse to participate in a war that violates the U.S. Constitution and international law. He is now being court-martialed for his act of moral conscience challenging government leaders on the war in Iraq through conduct consistent with his conscience, for stating what we now know about the war. For the first time since 1965, the military is prosecuting an objector for expressing his opinions, a particularly disturbing trend.

In the fear and hysteria of war, disastrous decisions are sometimes made in flagrant disregard of the Constitution -- like the Executive Order incarcerating Japanese Americans during World War II, and the current illegal war in Iraq. As our history teaches, and Lt. Watada reminds us, the Constitution must be protected, and not ignored, in times of war. Through his loyal dissent, Lt. Watada fulfills his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I urge you to support Lt. Watada's case and his cause in your capacity as a member of Congress. Please join the growing number of Americans who are deeply distressed at the wrong course our nation has taken, and stand with Lt. Watada in his principled defense of the Constitution.

I ask you to make a Congressional request to Lt General James Dubik and to Secretary Francis Harvey to accept Lt. Watada's resignation with full discharge.

Mahalo for your support.

Respectfully,

__________________

C. Obtain support from State and local officials. Ask them to write letters of support urging the Army to accept Lt. Watada's resignation from the U.S. Army and direct them to both Lt. General Dubik and Secretary of U.S. Army Francis Harvey, referred to above.

Contact your State Senators here:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/senate/members/members.asp?press1=senate&press2=members

Contact your State House Representatives here:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/house/members/members.asp?press1=house&press2=members

3. Write a letter to the editor of our local newspapers in support of
Lt. Watada.

YOUR ACTIONS WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
THE TIME TO TAKE THEM IS NOW!

"Gandhi once declared that it was his wife who unwittingly taught him the effectiveness on nonviolence. Who better than women should know that battles can be won without resort to physical strength? Who better than we should know all the power that resides in noncooperation?" Barbara Deming

part two: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1dAXQeH7y9g

[Peace Patriot]

1. Thank you for this info! K&R! 56% of the American people opposed this war

way back at the beginning, before the invasion (Feb. '03). They didn't buy Bush & war profiteers' bullshit then, and now 70% of the American people are of the same mind. Yet the war goes on and on and on. Lt. Watada is doing what we would all like done: No War! He is representing the American people better than anyone in our government including Congress. He is saying NO-O-O-O! I think we ought to elect him for President from the brig.

[mahina]

2. Mahalo, we are soooo proud of him.

You will find some other good videos on youtube, though none will come close I think to hearing him speak on Tuesday with Ann Wright here at Church of the Crossroads. Here's the link to the Star Bulletin article, though the transcript would make you stand and cheer. He is such an inspiration, and the definition of ethical and honorable behavior. He will need a lot of support in the coming months, as he has sacrificed so much. One thing he said that really sat with me was that he felt when he chose to risk jail, he got his freedom back. He is a noble, amazing young man and I urge DU to focus on supporting his effort. It is selfless and worth your time to write a letter to the editor in your home town, pass the video to your list, and send him any practical help and support you can. http://www.thankyoult.org/

mahalo nui. FOR PEACE!

http://starbulletin.com/2006/12/20/news/story11.html

Watada states his case in Moiliili
Standing ovations greet a soldier facing a court-martial for refusing to go to Iraq
By Leila Fujimori
[e-mail]

A highly sympathetic crowd of a few hundred people gave Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada standing ovations before, during and after a speech at the Church of the Crossroads in Moiliili.

Watada, a Honolulu native, faces court-martial in Fort Lewis, Wash., next month on six counts for refusing to deploy to Iraq and for conduct unbecoming an officer, charges that carry a maximum six years' imprisonment. He was back in Honolulu to meet with his attorney and visit with family.

Watada acknowledged that his actions have divided the community. "That was not my intent," he said. But upon learning the facts of the war, he said he was in turmoil.

He called the war in Iraq an illegal war of aggression.

He quoted Nazi Germany's Hermann Goering, who said while the common people are usually not willing to go to war, "all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked."

Watada said the American people were deceived by the Bush administration, which manipulated intelligence to fit policy and regime change in Iraq.

"We have been lied to, deceived and betrayed," he said. "A crime has been committed against the constitution."

He also told the audience that 10 intelligence agencies concluded the presence of American troops in Iraq are "fueling Islamic extremism all over the world."

He said as a military officer he needed to take a stand.

"I hated to leave my troops, but something had to be done to stop this insanity," he said.

"How could I order men to die for something I believe is wrong?" he said.

Watada said he could no longer condone the war and asked himself if he had the ability to do something about it, and took it upon himself to speak on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.

"Wearing the uniform is not and is never an excuse," he said.

His message fell on receptive ears.

Kristen Clyne, 31, a graduate student at the University of Hawaii, said the speech was "really inspiring."

She said she liked that Watada didn't focus on legislators to make changes, but on people.

"This war wouldn't really be permitted without the support of the people, and it is really on the people to stop this war," she said.

Daniel Chung, 54, noted, "It's about time somebody did something."

"Some people would rather die than admit they're wrong, but he's willing to put his reputation on the line. That's true patriotism," Chung said.

But not everyone totally supported Watada. A retired soldier who did not want to be identified said she was curious to hear him.

"I agree with what he's saying (about the war), but he was still in uniform. But he had the obligation of following orders and he didn't.

[comradebillyboy]

3. Sorry the guy is an officer in the army

he has no legal basis to refuse to obey the lawful orders of his superiors as he took an oath to do. The armed forces do not function when the soldiers can pick and choose which orders to obey. I say this a a veteran of our seriously misguided, but not illegal, war in viet-nam.

[mahina]

4. Thank you for your service!

My Dad served in Vietnam too, volunteered to go when the Hawaii Reserves were put on active Duty. (Special forces, tri-border region with the Montengyards.)

I honor your service 100%, and I encourage you to challenge yourself to read the website and watch the videos, (there are better on the website I think) and consider Dachau, Auschwitz and the Nuremberg trials. Officers take an oath to uphold the Constitution and follow all lawful orders. This was an illegal war of aggression and he is honoring his oath in a very serious, thoughtful, and selfless way.

This is not about Vietnam.


Aloha.

[comradebillyboy]

5. I understand your point, but

but the man was not ordered to commit war crimes, such as murdering civilians, orders which he could legitimately refuse to obey. The Iraq war is more irrational than the war in Viet-Nam, but soldiers still have an obligation to uphold their oath.

However the court will decide who is correct in this case. If he is acquitted in a court of law, then I will agree he behaved properly.

[mahina]

6. Mahalo for keeping an open mind.

While I cannot come close to Ehren's eloquence, his reasoning is that we were not taken to war based on bad intelligence, as the public CIA documents state there was no WMD. We were deliberately mislead into attacking a nation preemptively which is against international law and therefore illegal. I hope you consider reading the website and watching the video, and I also hope the court will consider the evidence impartially.

For his sacrifice to hold us to our own principles, for his service to our country, he is my hero. We are a military family too, all the way back to the revolution. I respect and appreciate Lt. Watada's stand and I am so proud of him.

I encourage you to take a hard look back at how we were lied to. The administration wasn't the victim of bad information, they flat out lied to us to take our country to war against a nation that did us no harm. This is an illegal war of agression and I would encourage everyone to evaluate the facts.

We are responsible for what is being done in our name, and our men and women in uniform count on us to ask them to put their lives at risk when it is necessary. Supporting this administration's unnecessary war of agression does not honor the immense gift of their service.

Aloha.

[yankhadenuf]

7. Lt. Watada states articulately that Iraq War is NOT honorable

On the other hand , Lt. Watada is an honorable young man and deserves the respect and support of his countrymen.
He will not kill for Bush lies.