They had a better way of dealing with this sort of thing during WWII.

It was called a "firing squad."

Wonder if he'll refuse to go to Leavenworth, too?

The Lt. is a poor excuse for a man and if his father agrees with him we can see why. Why would anyone with a brain join the military (it is all volunteer you know) then refuse to fight. Did he think he could make a career of kissin some Generals a**? I guess i was right on that one, if he's a liberal they spend their lives kissing a** because they're too cowardly to do anything else.

Hmmm.

Hhhheeeellllloooooooo Leavenworth.

Perhaps someone here can take Lt. Watada's place then?

I would, but I'm still kinda crippled from the LAST time I served in the military...

DDT,

What exactly does our status WRT wether or not we're currently in uniform have to do with Lt. Watada's failure to live up to his oaths and contractual obligations?

Well I live here in HI & this was all over the news over here. One guy on the radio said they should hold their press conference on Magic Island near the sewer plant. I can't understand why he joined in 2003 & never think he would be sent to Iraq. Why all of the sudden when he got deployment orders this suddenly became an "illegal wars". Well, my husband is currently in the sandbox and I would prefer if this worthless officer would keep his behind out of Iraq because he could put my husband (who is superior in rank to him) in danger if he refuses to follow his orders. I hope that they have some nice rocks for him bang in Leavenworth. I served in the first Gulf War and it absolutely makes me sick to see Col. Wright doing what she does today. She wasn't much of a Major when I served under her as a 2nd Lt. and I remember one of the other Majors saying that she only got to where she was because of her sex and she was also a woman.
So, the fun and games are on in Honolulu tomorrow. I know that the wackos out here will be talking about how brave he is and what a hero he really is. However, I believe he's a bum.

Someone demonstrates the courage of his convictions even though he faces jail. He is supported by the anti-war community. I am trying to figure out what is wrong with this.
Why is it that when the "left" simply supports someone that someone is being "used"
Was Rush being "used" when he received support from the "pro subsciption abuse crowd"

You still don't get it. A clear majority of our nation does not believe in a failed Iraq policy.
It does not take courage to follow blindly.
It does, unfortunatly take courage not to.

As for the poster writing about "oaths", Bush took an oath to uphold the Constitution.

Last question "What personal conviction are you willing to go to jail for as a resukt of your non-violent opposition?

Drew E,

Kindly point out, chapter and verse just where Bush hasn't upheld the Constitution.

"I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression."

Uh, how is the war "illegal" (Congress authorized it)? The "people" it's against is Saddam and his party, and they did deserve it. Now we're helping Iraq stabilize amid attacks from "insurgents," and yes, they deserve our aggression, too.

Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

Let me see now. I quess if this guy had joined the Fire Department, he would be fine sitting around the Fire Station, unless and until he was ordered to fight a fire. There is no draft and he could have joined the Air Force or Navy. Shoot him!

You are missing the point.
We as a nation can not allow this to occur!
If you let the military CHOOSE which wars to fight then you have NO military.
It is the soldiers duty to refuse an unlawful order (such as shooting one of his troops) but to refuse to go into combat is a act of cowardice.
And in fact he could be charged with disersation in the face of the enemy. And he should be punished to the utmost of the UCMJ because if you allow him to get away with this then what is to stop others from saying "I'm not going" just because they are either scared or they dont want to leave there family.

And yes if they would have me back I would return in a hart beat. You see I have been there before and would be happy to return.

Kim reported: "This is more than just one man refusing to deploy. It's a coordinated effort by the anti-war left to undermine our troops, our war effort, and President Bush, and Lt. Watada is its pawn" but doesn't back it up with any factual information to support her claim. Kim has not shown that Lt. Watada's choice to not go was "coordinated" in any fashion whatsoever.

Is her statement part of a coordinated effort by the pro-war pro-Bush contingency to discredit this man?

Does anyone have any supporting evidence that backs up what Kim has claimed, or is she lying?

I think it's pretty damn obvious he joined merely to make a political statement. Sorry, but if you join the military while hostilities are taking place and you rjob description includes the carrying of an automatic weapon and you decide to suddenly "protest government actions" you are either an idiot or a grand-stander.

If the Lt had gone to Iraq an been ordered to commit an illegal act and refused I'd be behind all the way.

He's just showboating.

And yes, I have been in the military...and to Iraq...twice.

So he thinks participating in an illegal war is worse than participating on the receiving end of the gang sodomizing he's headed for in prison. Interesting choice.

1st off, I do not WANT him leading our boys in Iraq. He is a piece of shit. Our boys deserve better.

2nd, I really can NOT put into words what his actions will do to his soldiers, and the absolute undermining of his NCO-s.

lastly, I look forward to him being discarded like a dirty condom once he has served his purpose.

Why would anyone with a brain join the military (it is all volunteer you know) then refuse to fight.

I am a Desert Storm veteran. As we were preparing to deploy, I was amazed at the number of young soldiers who said, "I didn't join the Army to fight in a war. I joined to get money for college." Clearly, they somehow didn't understand what it is that armies do. AT the time, I blamed it on the fact that we had gone many years without a real shootin' war, so many of them were too young to have heard about combat. Some people blamed recruiters for not telling them that they could fight a war some day.

In this case, I think the lieutenant ws trying to take advantage of an education paid for by the government. He knew his commitment when he took the Army's money for school and now, he's reneging. He knows that there are anti-war groups that will back him. He's probably been anti-war all along, but he was hoping to never be deployed. When that failed, he had no choice in his mind but to take the action he did.

Cybrludite

You posted: "Kindly point out, chapter and verse just where Bush hasn't upheld the Constitution."

In John Dean's Worse Than Watergate, Dean writes:

"The evidence is overwhelming that George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have engaged in deceit and deception over going to war in Iraq. This is an impeachable offense."

There is voluminous information currently available that suggests exactly what John Dean said. If the Republicans cared one whit about this country & it's Constitution that they are sworn to uohold, they would currently be holding investigations to determine whether such an offense was committed.

As Dean says, "If there's anything that really is the bottom line, it's taking the nation to war in a time -- when they might not have had to go to war and people dying. That is worse than Watergate. No one died for Nixon's so-called Watergate abuses. "

Cybrludite,there currently is no "chapter & verse" beyond this because the Congressional Republicans will never permit investigations to make this determination. As it stands now, there will never be "chapter and verse" just as there would never have been "chapter and verse" in Watergate were the Republicans in control of Congress at that time.

Someone asked what part of the Constitution
Bush violated? The same part that tells the LT. he shouldn't go to IRAQ.. Article six ...you see we are all bound by things our government has signed like say The Geneva Convention ... as we were not attacked by Iraq..nor was Iraq a direct threat to invade the U.S. our preemtive invasion was and remains illegal under the Geneva convention..which we ah signed...

Call the man what he is. Chickenshit.

I'm just glad this disgraceful piece of crap won't be anywhere near the heroic warriors in Iraq.

Let him rot in Leavenworth. Maybe he'll get the shit kicked out of him on a daily basis.

Tell your lies elsewear moron.

"You still don't get it. A clear majority of our nation does not believe in a failed Iraq policy."

To bad for you the clear Majority that really counts , the patriotic voting AMERICANS in this Country voted for George W Bush and many being registered Democrats like myself. Your lies and continued support for the perpetual fraud aka what's left of the democrat party shows your infantile bitterness and inability to accept defeat. You are wrong , you are a sore loser and the democrats are complete frauds and horse faced liars. They are in the complete minority and losing ground here in Ca. Over 80% of felons vote democrat, are you in that category? I can only wonder what percentage of those that speak absolutely no English vote democrat.

Is this officer advocating a "theocracy"?

This officer claims that the Iraq War is not a just war. Many liberals believe that Bush is pushing for a "theocracy." Yet is it not the liberals actually invoking theological arguments to support their cause?

It's my understanding that the Just War Doctrine in the West has strong developmental roots in Christian theology. Thus, it seems ironic to me that those who are advancing the "no just war" argument are aligned with, and often are the same as, those who consistently attack Bush's evangelicalism.

mak4.4, drew, lee, rob: ladies, blame congress, not bush - he did not cast the votes for the members of our legislative branch, who approved these actions.

blanket assertions: 'majority of americans believe this is a failed policy' are utterly void of substance. if your interested in polls; look at the national elections - the results do not support your positions.

Petulant little whiner Drew E.

"as we were not attacked by Iraq."

You are clearly an idiot and an uninformed one at that. What do you call our planes being constantly shot at patrolling the no fly zone? You cry babies have no clue and shit for memories. It's no wonder Nagin couldn't function and implement the emergency evacuation plan. Are all your brains complete mush from drugs or are you just really that stupid? You turd brains can't even remember those 17 resolutions like that Bimbo Balling Boxer. How about BJ Clintons Iraq Liberation Act , or was that some sort of script he was writing for Hollywood and all the Dims declaring that Sadam was a treat and that he had WMD's and used them in the past and he will use them again.

Like the words of the Queen of Hypocracy Bugsy Pelosi: "HE MUST BE STOPPED ,HE MUST BE STOPPED, WE MUST STOP HIM". Not to worry deary, the real adults and Americans took care of what you frauds could never have dreamed of doing, Protecting this Country.All the Democrats could do was screamed like terrified cowards. While the courageous soldiers through the leadership of "Republican" President George W Bush when in after repeated stalling and obstruction from the criminals and cowards in the CORRUPT UN and CORRUPT DEMOCRAT PARTY and went after those who have done us harm in the past , now and who wish to do us harm in the future.

All you losers in the democrat party care about is winning your dumbasses a little more power and a few more seats in the House or the Senate and hopefully a Majority so you can begin to rewrite History and destroy and much evidence and proof of the fact they are nothing more than Common Criminals in a suit. Your still trying to spit shine that POS Clinton and cover up his and his partners crimes.

Release the entire Barrett Report you diversionary wankers!

In other words, Cyberluddite, mak44 has nothing to back up his assertion of Constitutional violations by the President.

Like in every single one of his previous posts, he just issued forth a great deal of noise and smoke (including appeals to extremely dubious authority) and in the end said absolutely nothing.

Let's just thank God mak44's on the other side. With the mass of idiots we have in Congress, mak44's added idiocy could have been the straw that broke the GOP's back.

Rube in LA

You barfed...er, blogged: "You still don't get it. A clear majority of our nation does not believe in a failed Iraq policy."

I imagine the same could have been said about a "clear majority" of Germans during the 1930's & '40's. As a matter of fact, I spoke w/ a German family from that era in Stutgart in 1965 and a couple of them observed, even at that point in time, that during the Hitler years the average person didn't have to be afraid to "walk the streets at night."

Of course, as you pointed out above, I am just a serial murderer with 45 life sentence convictions who got off on a Miranda technicality not to mention, a registered member of the Communist Party and a distant relative of Fidel Castro's, so what is my point of view worth?

Martin A. Knight

Ah, another reasoned response to one of my posts!!!!!!

Thanx Martin; you just demonstrated that when the tenor of a post is out of sync w/ you illusions, the proper response is to slime the writer.

Hope you're watching, Jay- there's a 2-way street here,

So a then a clear majority of americans believe in a successful Iraq policy, boy Your on the ball.

the patriotic voting AMERICANS in this Country voted for George W Bush and many being registered Democrats like myself. Your lies and continued support for the perpetual fraud aka what's left of the democrat party shows your infantile bitterness and inability to accept defeat.

Rob, once again, if you were registered Democrat you would at the very least be familiar with the name of the Democratic Party. Go back to calling in to kiss Rush's ass.

Hmmmm.

Interesting that we get one of these stories just about the time the last such story has died and moved off the radar.

Neat coincidence that.

...

Frankly this guy is either an idiot or his enlistment was just a setup for this situation.