2007.01.02: January 2, 2007: Headlines: COS - Peru: Military: Iraq: War: Illegal War: Law: Speaking Out: Haleaka Times: Tunisia RPCV Lance Holter writes: 1st Lt. Ehren Watada risks it all in an act of moral conscience

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Library: January 23, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Iraq, War in Iraq : Peace Corps: Iraq: Archived Stories: 2007.01.02: January 2, 2007: Headlines: COS - Peru: Military: Iraq: War: Illegal War: Law: Speaking Out: Haleaka Times: Tunisia RPCV Lance Holter writes: 1st Lt. Ehren Watada risks it all in an act of moral conscience

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Tunisia RPCV Lance Holter writes: 1st Lt. Ehren Watada risks it all in an act of moral conscience

Tunisia RPCV Lance Holter writes:  1st Lt. Ehren Watada risks it all in an act of moral conscience

"I learned about the courage of conviction last week when I met with a courageous young American patriot. A leader who lives by example. An individual, who out of a decision of moral conscience, refuses to participate in a war that he believes (after much personal research) violates the U.S. Constitution, Geneva accords, Nuremberg principals, and the United Nations Charter. First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, a 28 year old U.S. Army artillery officer from Hawaii, has become the first active duty military officer publicly to oppose the war in Iraq. As a result of his act of conscience and challenging what we now know about the war in Iraq, Lt. Watada is facing military court martial at Ft. Lewis Washington this February 5, 2007."

"I, for one, am outraged. If the past national election or national polls are any indication of America’s dissatisfaction and outrage with the Iraq war then I am in good company. Seventy-two percent of the U.S. troops in a 2006 Zogby poll want the U.S. out Iraq in 12 months. So when an individual emerges with the integrity of Lt. Watada, all of us benefit, whether we agree with him or not. In the national debate on the Iraq war we have an island boy risking all that he has including his future to help us all arrive at the truth."


Tunisia RPCV Lance Holter writes: 1st Lt. Ehren Watada risks it all in an act of moral conscience

Ehren Watada: risking it all in an act of moral conscience

January 02, 2007

Caption: 1st Lt. Ehren Watada

“Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it.” - Mark Twain

Try to put yourself in this position. After much soul searching, your conscience has arrived at a conclusion of clarity and that because of this position you now face six years in prison at hard labor. You even think that under the best outcome of this situation you might only be imprisoned for two years. However, if you surrender your beliefs about morality and what is unlawful you can walk away a free man with your career intact. What would you do?

I learned about the courage of conviction last week when I met (as a guest during a family dinner in Honolulu) with a courageous young American patriot. A leader who lives by example. An individual, who out of a decision of moral conscience, refuses to participate in a war that he believes (after much personal research) violates the U.S. Constitution, Geneva accords, Nuremberg principals, and the United Nations Charter.

First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, a 28 year old U.S. Army artillery officer from Hawaii, has become the first active duty military officer publicly to oppose the war in Iraq. As a result of his act of conscience and challenging what we now know about the war in Iraq, Lt. Watada is facing military court martial at Ft. Lewis Washington this February 5, 2007.

Particularly disturbing is that for the first time since 1965 the U.S. military is prosecuting an objector for expressing his conscience and opinion. Yet in an era where one branch of government can deliberately mislead another branch of government in order to authorize an illegal war, where the president can spy on our citizens without a warrant, where citizens and non-citizens alike are arbitrarily and indefinitely detained without charge, and where torture becomes an officially sanctioned and condoned act of imprisonment who would or could be surprised?

I, for one, am outraged. If the past national election or national polls (www.pollingreport.com) are any indication of America’s dissatisfaction and outrage with the Iraq war then I am in good company. Seventy-two percent of the U.S. troops in a 2006 Zogby poll want the U.S. out Iraq in 12 months. So when an individual emerges with the integrity of Lt. Watada, all of us benefit, whether we agree with him or not. In the national debate on the Iraq war we have an island boy risking all that he has including his future to help us all arrive at the truth.

Lt. Watada shared the following with me at our dinner, “I’m trying to send out to the American people of this country a message that the responsibility of ending this illegal and immoral war lies with the people of this country and holding their leader accountable because if they don’t do anything nothing is going to happen.”

While Lt. Watada awaits pretrial hearings this January 4 and 5, Lt. Watada’s father, Bob Watada, continues to rally support for his son’s cause and wrote that, “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.”

I asked Lt. Watada if he was worried about his future, he said, “I’m not going to worry about my future, this is certainly an important and significant chapter in my life, and I’m going to carry it with me and it’s going to help me become a better person and I can take solace in the fact (that) it’s going to change the world…(and the message I want to give to as many as possible)…and to educate people on everything there is to know about Iraq and to ask people to take a stance one way or another. If they agree that the war is wrong or immoral or illegal, what are they willing to sacrifice in order to stop it?”

So I ask, what are we willing to do to match the courage of Lt. Watada? Visit www.thankyoulthawaii.org to find out.

Lance Holter of Paia, Maui is a former Peace Corps Volunteer, (Tunisia, North Africa 1972-73) and Interim Chairperson of the Maui Democratic Party.




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Headlines: January, 2007; Peace Corps Peru; Directory of Peru RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Peru RPCVs; Military; Iraq; Law; Speaking Out





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Story Source: Haleaka Times

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