Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

Lt. Ehren Watada’s Last Fight

I’ve been following the story of Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to fight the war in Iraq.

After closely studying the leadup to the war, Watada concluded that the war was unlawful. “My participation would make me party to war crimes,” he said at the June press conference linked above.

Last week on July 5, Lt. Watada was formally charged with contempt. He faces 7 years in military prison. His lawyer, the great Eric Seitz, says he has little chance for acquittal.

The case is important to me not just for what it stands for but because of the fact that he’s also a Hawai’i boy, and the great Eric Seitz also represented my cousin David Miyasato.

It’s also interesting to see that the case has not become front-page news. A sample of the coverage:

–Seattle Post-Intelligencer
–Alternet
–Bill O’Reilly(!) in which sellout Juan Williams switch-hits for the right. Good work! Fox News is lacing that retirement fund well, huh?

Please sign a petition and donate to his defense, and spread the word.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 7:25 am | 5 Comments

5 Responses to “Lt. Ehren Watada’s Last Fight”

Anonymous says:

July 12, 2006 at 2:41 pm

This dude is dope! Balls of steel he must possess!
Just Chris says:

July 12, 2006 at 5:19 pm

I say, don’t take it the wrong way, but…
“no shit, sherlock”

people been saying (and believing) the war was illegal all along. but that doesn’t diminish my props to his
“Balls of steel” at all.
ACook says:

July 16, 2006 at 7:52 am

This guy should be prosecuted. He can’t have it both ways. If one is against war, then don’t put on that uniform. And I believe he knew this from day one. Everything was OK until his number came up to “go”.
Just Chris says:

July 17, 2006 at 8:08 am

ahhh. but that’s the thing… if you read it, he says he’s not against war in general, but he’s against THIS war, how it is a war of aggression and violates all your standard UN world treaties, and is not even constitutional under our own laws.
That’s his argument, therefore there is no contradiction as far as I can see, in “both ways”
Bodyguard_psa@yahoo.com says:

July 23, 2006 at 8:33 am

What is next? People saying I don’t agree with speed limit, telling boss, I don’t want to do that part of my job (even thought it was clearly outlined as possibility in job description, I don’t think my tax dollars should go to pay for “this that anf the ohter” so I am not paying taxes….the list goes on and on and only gets more crazy. He signed on to be a soldier, which is what he needs to do. If he now changed his mind, give him dishonorable discharge and move on. It is clear he does not wish to honor his word. He is now a poster boy for anti-war groups. He should have been discharged and skipped the media he is now going after. It seems maybe he has/had an agenda. . . . hmmmm

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