Agree. He knew what he signed up for. But then there is indeed the fact if this is actually a legal war :?He should at the very least receive his Other than Honorable discharge and be barred from any benefits due to him.
Agree. He knew what he signed up for. But then there is indeed the fact if this is actually a legal war :?
At International law, there are two ways in which a war can be legally fought. One is a war in self defence, the other is a war fought with Security council authorization (like the first Gulf War).
The Iraq war really fails on both counts.
Wars are serious bussiness, people DIE...committing to war should be a bit harder and more difficult then a premier just being able to say "off to war chaps" or "saddle up, cowboys" and then off thousands of men and women go to die for the noble defence of their country, by attacking another that poses no actual threat.
That's the typical response i would expect from somebody like you, a true American "patriot". If you're the proud American you claim to be, why don't YOU go to Iraq? I think he has a good right to NOT get being shot in Iraq. For starters this was a war Bush set up to justify his own little crusade against war on terrorism. A meaningless fight for his own selfish ***. Weapons of mass destruction, haven't seen any of those, did you?
This soldier is no hero. Do you think everyone in Iraq right now supports this war, or ever supported this war? They fight because it is their duty. This person signed up knowing full well that there was a war going on in Iraq and enjoyed the benefits of being in the military and when it came time to pay his dues, he decided to be a chickens***. This shows that he believes his own life to be more valuable than that of the people over in Iraq, and as someone with several friends who have gone there (though they didn't want to), I take issue with that.
This man is nothing but a coward.
No, but at the end of the day, Lt. Watada CAN legally become a Japanese national on the basis of his ancestry. Japan would NOT deny him a passport. Imagine if, Lt. Watada worked on a US Army base as an American Lieutenant in Okinawa, and then later lived in Okinawa as a regular Japanese after giving up his US Nationality. I feel that if Watada renounced not only his commission, but became a Japanese national, he cannot be jailed in a US Military prision for the charges that are made against him. The reason is that there is no policy to extradite a Japanese national who is not a US citizen for committing the so called offences that he made. I know it is a loophole, but there is no agreement between the US and Japan regarding a Japanese national committing crimes as a US Soldier, since on paper, that would be an impossibility. Of course, Watada would probably never be able to get back on American soil, but Watada would then be considered only a Japanese national CIVILIAN.
(Article 6, Charter of the International Military Tribunal, August 8, 1945, http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/NurembergIndictments.html)"Crimes against Peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a Common Plan or Conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing."
(Quoted, Walter J. Rockler, ﾂ'War crimes law applies to U.S. too,' Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1999)"the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole".
www.codepink4peace.org/National_Actions_Camilo.shtml)ﾂ"People would ask me about my war experiences and answering them took me back to all the horrors ﾂ― the firefights, the ambushes, the time I saw a young Iraqi dragged by his shoulders through a pool of his own blood or an innocent man was decapitated by our machine gun fire. The time I saw a soldier broken down inside because he killed a child, or an old man on his knees, crying with his arms raised to the sky, perhaps asking God why we had taken the lifeless body of his son. I thought of the suffering of a people whose country was in ruins and who were further humiliated by the raids, patrols and curfews of an occupying army.
ﾂ"And I realized that none of the reasons we were told about why we were in Iraq turned out to be true... I realized that I was part of a war that I believed was immoral and criminal, a war of aggression, a war of imperial domination. I realized that acting upon my principles became incompatible with my role in the military, and I decided that I could not return to Iraq.ﾂ"
(Mejia, ﾂ'Regaining My Humanity,'
(www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/24/148212)"It sickened me so that I had actually brought it up to my lieutenant, and I told him, I said, ﾂ'You know, sir, we're not going to have to worry about Iraq - you know, we're basically committing genocide over here, mass extermination of thousands of Iraqis...'"
(Rocker, Culture and Nationalism, Michael E. Coughlan, 1978, p.197)"It is certainly dangerous for a state when its citizens have a conscience; what it needs is men without conscience, or, better still, men whose conscience is quite in conformity with reasons of state, men in whom the feeling of personal responsibility has been replaced by the automatic impulse to act in the interests of the state."
ﾂ"Not doing harm to others,
Not bowing down to the ignoble,
Not abandoning the path of virtue –
These are small points, but of great
Importance.ﾂ"
Out of a practical necessity. It is either that, OR BE IN JAIL IN THE STATES!Why would you want him to take advantage of his ancestry to weasel his way out of the hole he's dug for himself? Let him accept the consequences for his own actions. Back during the Vietnam war, we had people who were willing to be imprisoned for their anti-war beliefs. Have we come so far down the path of irresponsibility and passing the buck that you are suggesting that this officer who joined DURING the war should exploit his roots just to get out of his well-deserved court-martial?
Also, I believe it's been pointed out several times that Watada is an AMERICAN. Do you think that all people of Japanese descent have some deep-seated desire to "return" to Japan and become Japanese?
OK. If anyone is interested in a discussion that is not throwing around the word 'chicken' or 'coward' or some other emotive expression, take a look at this...
I think our soldier friend did something that he knew was going to ruin his life, at least for a while, on the basis of a principle he thought he should stand up for. Quite what the connection is between the fact that he has some Japanese blood in his veins I am lost to explain. I guess that even though he joined during the war, he, like most of the population knew little about the real reasons behind the war and what was happening in Iraq.
Now - why on earth would a soldier in the US military want to turn around and reject the very people he vowed to serve and have the full force of military law bear down on him?
Well. Maybe firstly. Iraq is no ordinary war.
At the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal in 1946, Nazi leaders like Goering, von Ribbentrop, Jodl and Streicher were sentenced to death by hanging for
(Article 6, Charter of the International Military Tribunal, August 8, 1945, http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/NurembergIndictments.html)
It is indisputable, in light of the mountains of evidence that appeared over the last few years, that the current leaders of Britain and the United States are responsible for just such a conspiracy. The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, someone who by the very nature of his job has to choose his words carefully, believes the invasion was "illegal" and clearly in breach of the UN Charter.
Many people also believe that initiating a war of aggression is,
(Quoted, Walter J. Rockler, ﾂ'War crimes law applies to U.S. too,' Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1999)
So, whether you agree with this or not, and I can see no reason why not after seeing the evidence mount up, he certainly believes it.
Should a soldier therefore be allowed to have a conscience? Can they have a conscience in extreme cases like a war crime?
Normally, the implicit assumption is that signing a contract and being paid to do a job absolves us of all further moral responsibility. We have signed an agreement to do as we are told - an ostensibly innocuous act. If the people with whom we made this agreement then choose to send us to 'bring democracy' or should I say illegally occupy and subjugate the population, that is their moral responsibility, not ours.
But he had also spoken to veterans who helped him make up his mind:
Veterans like US soldier Camilo Mejia who refused to return to his unit in Iraq after taking leave in October 2003:
www.codepink4peace.org/National_Actions_Camilo.shtml)
Or maybe ex-Marine Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey who said:
(www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/24/148212)
So, if he had of spoken to these people and decided that the decision to go to war itself was a war crime based on lies and then realised that the situation on the ground in Iraq was only increasing the suffering for Iraqis, I for one think it was a brave decision.
In 1937, Rudolf Rocker wrote:
(Rocker, Culture and Nationalism, Michael E. Coughlan, 1978, p.197)
The world is a better place when a person, whatever their job may be and whatever bit of paper they signed, still knows right from wrong and is not afraid to act on it.
What really counts according to the 2nd century sage, Nagarjuna, is:
two points: One, is Watada even considering attempting this sham to avoid military justice, or does he intend to stand his ground as many of us has stated he should? As I said, conscientious objectors refused to go to war and many were willing to go to prison to make their statement (granted the situations are not entirely paralell). Without knowing what his intentions are, all of this is just conjecture.
Secondly, if Watada was foolish enough to do this and go hang around a US base, he probably wouldn't be heckled for being a Japanese with no honor; he'd get his *** kicked (or worse) for being an officer that abandoned his post at a time of war. I'm not saying that's what he deserves, but it sounds like a more likely response than whispering behind his back.