Lion or Weasel?

Last July, First Lt. Ehren K. Watada was charged with “missing a movement” and “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman”. Watada had refused to go with his unit, the Third Brigade, Second infantry, when it was sent to Iraq. Watada asked to go to Afghanistan instead. When his request to be sent to Afghanistan was denied, Watada tried to resign. That request was also denied. He says the war in Iraq is illegal. Watada is being court-martialed. The trial started yesterday. Watada was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1978. His father, Robert Watada, refused to serve in the Vietnam War. However, Ehren Watada joined the US army in March 2003. He said he joined because he “had a desire to protect our country”. Watada received his officer’s commission in December 2003. Watada is being hailed as a hero. People are saying more soldiers should stand up and be counted like Lieutenant Watada. People are saying Watada is a fine brave example. On one thing, I will agree. Ehren Watada can certainly point the way for patriotic young fools who might be tempted to join the Army. Watada’s example clearly says, DON’T DO IT! But to claim that Watada’s act of defiance is righteous and good is ridiculous. Ehren Watada joined the Army in 2003 at the age of 25. (I can’t find an exact birth date, but it was somewhere in 1978.) He was a graduate from Hawaii Pacific University. He was not drafted. He joined the Army. He received a commission. It is no doubt true that Watada believed the bullshit coming out of the Bush administration about Weapons of Mass Destruction and that the United States of America was more in peril by the hour and that America needed its valorous young men to join the army and defend America’s honor in Iraq. But Watada’s gullibility is no more a reasonable defense than any other after-the-fact whine would be a defense in a court martial. What Watada did is not a good and beautiful thing. Even though I certainly cannot blame him for doing it. Still, it is not brave, commendable or virtuous. Ehren Watada willingly joined up. He knew the rules. He knew his ass was grass and the Army was the lawn mower. He knew silly Lieutenants couldn’t demand deployment to areas of their choice. It would not be long before Lieutenant Watada knew that George W. Bush is an asshole, knew Rumsfeld had mismanaged the war and knew he’d been lied to. Watada had two options. He could stay in the Army and suck it up. Or he could do what he did and suck it up. He chose to defy the Army. Now he faces up to four years in prison and will be dishonorably discharged if convicted on all counts. Watada is a grown man who made a grown-man’s choices. So be it. But may every young person who even has a thought of joining the Army take a look at the Watada saga, and may they run as fast as possible from the United States Army, Marines, or Navy. Watada can lead the way. DON’T JOIN THE US ARMED FORCES!