First US Officer To Publicly Refuse To Deploy To Iraq

Officer likely to refuse Iraq call

By Christian Hill

The Olympian

A Fort Lewis soldier is poised to become the first U.S. military officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq, his supporters said Monday.

The officer, whom supporters so far will identify only by the initials LT, will attend a news conference Wednesday in Tacoma to make his identity known and explain the reasons for his refusal.

He has the backing of both national and South Sound anti-Iraq War groups. A Web site set up by supporters, www.thankyoult.org, includes a statement attributed to the officer.

"I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression," it reads in part. "I wanted to be there for my fellow troops. But the best way was not to help drop artillery and cause more death and destruction. It is to help oppose this war and end it so that all soldiers can come home."
more at:
http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060606/NEWS/606060356

No doubt he will be severely punished, but his stand is courageous!
I hope this will encourage other officers to do the same.
K&R

Bless Him for taking a stand!

The officer, 1st Lt. Ehren K. Watada, 28, son of former state campaign spending commission executive director Bob Watada, is believed to be one of the first military officers to publicly take steps to refuse his deployment orders.

"My son has a great deal of courage, and clearly understands what is right, and what is wrong," Bob Watada said yesterday. "He's choosing to do the right thing, which is a hard course."

Watada declined further comment until a news conference planned for 11 a.m. tomorrow at the state Capitol. His son is with a Stryker unit out of Fort Lewis, Wash., and is expected to participate by teleconference.

Jeff Paterson, a former Kane'ohe Bay Marine who refused to board a transport in 1990 heading to the Gulf War and now works as an anti-war activist with the organization Not In Our Name, said a second news conference will be held in Tacoma, Wash.....

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060606/NEWS01/606060344/1001/NEWS

I hope more will step forward as well!

1. Good for him/her.

2. This is probably someone who did ROTC in college, went to college for free, and now doesn't want to play soldier. I wanted nothing to do with the military crap, so I didn't go into the ROTC and accept the money. Hopefully I am wrong about this and part of me feels bad about thinking this, but just thought I'd offer a different perspective.

Because even if it is, there are ways to pay back the money invested.

I think this officer is has more guts than about 10 generals I've seen on the news extolling the alleged virtues of the invasion of Iraq who have a different opinion when their pensions are safely secured and their retirement is official.

:thumbsup: :hi: :patriot:

I posted a story about this Friday, without the name, because our planning group was waiting for the press conference Wednesday.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1339631
DU made this number one, with 59 rec. I hope this gets many more. Most of all, i hope you all take the time to go to the LT website.
http://www.thankyoult.org/
And write a simple thank you, for Lt. Ehren Watada for doing the right thing. And then go your peace groups and and urge each and every one of the to do the same.

This will be a long campaign. We want to encourage similar actions, we want all people, civilians and military alike, to take risks for peace.

I was honored to meet Ehren over Memorial Day weekend, and i am honored to support him.

We must all thank him, and do all we can to stop this war.

It is good to see such courage of convictions against an immoral and illegal war.