hussain.mahammed
a lonely traveller
US Refusenik Stands Trial on Iraq
"They are going to find me guilty - there is not any question over that," Watada said.
CAIRO — Like many Americans, Lt Ehren Watada raced to join the army to defend the United States against alleged threats posed by Saddam Hussein's regime, expressing "a desire to protect our country".
But as days go by, the 28-year-old soldier came to realize before being deployed in the Arab country that the war was "immoral" and found on feeble excuses. Now he would be court-martialed for speaking his mind out and refusing to join a war waged in deception.
"When the administration comes out and says the threat was imminent and that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction and that he has ties to Al-Qaeda and therefore he has the means to attack us at any point, I remember telling my father: 'You know, we should give them the benefit of the doubt,'" "" Lt Watada told the Guardian in an interview published Saturday, February 3.
While preparing for his tour of duty in Iraq, Watada read James Bamford’s book "A Pretext for War," which argues that the Iraq war decision was the work of a small group of neoconservative civilians in the Pentagon and their allies in policy think-tanks.
"It was so shocking to me," Watada said. "I guess I had heard about WMD and that we made a terrible, terrible mistake."
"Mistakes can happen but to think that it was deliberate and that a careful deception was done on the American people - you just had to question who you are as a serviceman, as an American."
Watada said fighting such a war would violate the oath he took when he joined the army.
"Because this war to me is illegal in the sense that it was waged in deception, and it was also in violation of international law," he said.
"When you know what we have been doing is clearly illegal and in many cases immoral, even if I supported it with my silence I would be betraying the people I swore to protect."
Guilty Anyway
Watada is also the first US officer to be court-martialed for publicly criticizing the war since the Vietnam era. He is due to be court-martialed on Monday, February 5.
"They are going to find me guilty - there is not any question over that," Watada told The Independent in another interview.
He is facing charges of "missing movement" because of his refusal to deploy in June 2006 and "conduct unbecoming of an officer" because of his public comments on the issue.
If convicted, the US officer could spend four years in a military prison.
Amnesty International said Friday, February 2, that Watada would be a prisoner of conscience if he was convicted.
"If found guilty, Amnesty International would consider Ehren Watada to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release," said Susan Lee, the human rights group's Americas program director.
The London-based group said the right to refuse to perform military service for reasons of conscience, thought or religion was protected under international human rights conventions.
Watada is the latest in a series of US soldiers who have publicly refused to serve in Iraq.
Thirteen US soldiers have sought refugee status in Canada.
In chief ally Britain, Royal Air Force medic Malcolm Kendall-Smith was jailed for eight months last year after becoming the first British officer to face charges for refusing to be deployed to Iraq.
"They are going to find me guilty - there is not any question over that," Watada said.
CAIRO — Like many Americans, Lt Ehren Watada raced to join the army to defend the United States against alleged threats posed by Saddam Hussein's regime, expressing "a desire to protect our country".
But as days go by, the 28-year-old soldier came to realize before being deployed in the Arab country that the war was "immoral" and found on feeble excuses. Now he would be court-martialed for speaking his mind out and refusing to join a war waged in deception.
"When the administration comes out and says the threat was imminent and that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction and that he has ties to Al-Qaeda and therefore he has the means to attack us at any point, I remember telling my father: 'You know, we should give them the benefit of the doubt,'" "" Lt Watada told the Guardian in an interview published Saturday, February 3.
While preparing for his tour of duty in Iraq, Watada read James Bamford’s book "A Pretext for War," which argues that the Iraq war decision was the work of a small group of neoconservative civilians in the Pentagon and their allies in policy think-tanks.
"It was so shocking to me," Watada said. "I guess I had heard about WMD and that we made a terrible, terrible mistake."
"Mistakes can happen but to think that it was deliberate and that a careful deception was done on the American people - you just had to question who you are as a serviceman, as an American."
Watada said fighting such a war would violate the oath he took when he joined the army.
"Because this war to me is illegal in the sense that it was waged in deception, and it was also in violation of international law," he said.
"When you know what we have been doing is clearly illegal and in many cases immoral, even if I supported it with my silence I would be betraying the people I swore to protect."
Guilty Anyway
Watada is also the first US officer to be court-martialed for publicly criticizing the war since the Vietnam era. He is due to be court-martialed on Monday, February 5.
"They are going to find me guilty - there is not any question over that," Watada told The Independent in another interview.
He is facing charges of "missing movement" because of his refusal to deploy in June 2006 and "conduct unbecoming of an officer" because of his public comments on the issue.
If convicted, the US officer could spend four years in a military prison.
Amnesty International said Friday, February 2, that Watada would be a prisoner of conscience if he was convicted.
"If found guilty, Amnesty International would consider Ehren Watada to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release," said Susan Lee, the human rights group's Americas program director.
The London-based group said the right to refuse to perform military service for reasons of conscience, thought or religion was protected under international human rights conventions.
Watada is the latest in a series of US soldiers who have publicly refused to serve in Iraq.
Thirteen US soldiers have sought refugee status in Canada.
In chief ally Britain, Royal Air Force medic Malcolm Kendall-Smith was jailed for eight months last year after becoming the first British officer to face charges for refusing to be deployed to Iraq.
