A Brave Man

U.S. Army First Lt. Ehren Watada is a brave, brave man. He says that it's his duty as a officer to refuse an illegal order, specifically the order deploying him to Iraq.

I absolutely admire his courage to stand up against the President of the United States of America.

The cynic in me (although I agree with Lt. Watada), wants to believe that this is all a well-organized, carefully crafted publicity stunt. But then I heard that they refused his request to resign. He wanted to resign his commission rather than carry out an illegal order. And so his options were either to go to the Middle East and be part of the war, or become a conscientious objector. They refused his offer to go quietly.

�Never in my life did I ever imagine I would have to disobey my president. But then again, never did I imagine my president would lie to go to war, condone torture, spy on Americans, or destroy the career of a CIA agent for political gain. I would rather resign in protest, but the army doesn�t agree.�

"Mr. President, you have violated: Article I of the Constitution by deceiving Congress, Article 2 of the U.N. Charter, U.N. Gen. Assembly Res. 3314 and the Nuremburg Tribunal Charter barring wars of aggression, and many other international and domestic laws. As a commissioned officer of the U.S. Armed Forces my legal and moral obligation is to the Constitution--not to those who would issue unlawful orders. It is my duty to refuse to fight this illegal war."

Thank you, Lieutenant. You're a good man. And on base, I'm sure you've become a pariah.