Military resisters get civilian support

The first commissioned officer to refuse orders to take part in the occupation of Iraq was thanked by over a thousand people at 30 different sites around the United States on June 27. First Lt. Ehren Watada’s June 22 refusal to deploy to Iraq has inspired a wave of support from anti-war forces, who are reaching out to dissident U.S. troops.

Lt. Ehren Watada

The demonstrations increased contact between the civilian anti-war movement and the troops. More groups are offering support to GI resisters. In polls, over 70 percent of U.S. troops in Iraq have said they want to get out. The question remains whether Watada’s heroic example of individual refusal can help awaken an impulse toward mass resistance within the occupation army.

Watada had announced June 7 that he would refuse orders to go to Iraq because the war there violates international and domestic law. He is currently restricted to the large U.S. Army base in Fort Lewis, Wash.

“I feel that we have been lied to and betrayed by this administration,” Watada told the media in a telephone interview from Fort Lewis. “It is the duty, the obligation of every soldier, and specifically the officers, to evaluate the legality, the truth behind every order—including the order to go to war.”

Reuters reported June 29 that five GIs are now being investigated for the premeditated rape of an Iraqi woman, her murder and that of three other members of her family. Considering that every day there is news about U.S. troops suspected of war crimes like rape, murder and massacres of Iraqi civilians, it is easy to understand the lieutenant’s revulsion.

Supporters of Lt. Ehren Watada march in New York on June 27. WW photo: John Catalinotto

As of now, the Pentagon has only investigated blatant criminal actions by rank-and-file soldiers and marines. No one has brought official charges against the high officers and politicians who systematically lied to justify the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Some of the June 27 demonstrations also expressed solidarity with Spc. Suzanne Swift, another Fort Lewis soldier. Swift, after spending a year in Iraq, went absent rather than deploy again on June 12. She said she had faced sexual harassment from sergeants commanding her unit in Iraq and was for ced into a sexual relationship with a sergeant who could order her into battle.

Another military resister, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, is in the prison in Ft. Lewis serving a 15-month sentence for his refusal to deploy to Iraq last year. There are regular vigils outside the base in solidarity with Benderman.

From Ft. Lewis
to New York City

Workers World spoke to participants in some of the 30-plus demonstrations. “Rallies and vigils were held in Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia, Wash., building up to the June 27 action, which brought 250 people to demonstrate and rally outside the gate of Ft. Lewis,” said Jim McMahan. “People in many automobiles honked their horns in support for the demonstration on a freeway overpass on the six-lane highway and protesters spilled over right to the gates of the fort.”

Speakers at the Ft. Lewis rally included Ehren Watada’s mother, Carolyn Ho; his father, Robert Watada; and his stepmother, Rosa Watada.

In Tacoma, the United Metho dist Church has declared itself a sanctuary for soldiers not wanting to go to war. According to Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era military resister who was visiting the Ft. Lewis area, the church “will provide counseling there, plus other resources that sound like it will be kind of a ‘coffee house’”—the name for gathering places that peace activists set up for GIs in towns near military bases during the war against Vietnam.

In Charlotte, N.C., some 25 people got together that same day, reports David Dixon. Organizers had shown the film “Sir! No Sir!”—the suppressed story of the GI resistance movement opposing the Vietnam War —at the public library in downtown Charlotte. “Ahmad Daniels, a Black Vietnam-era military resister who is mentioned in the film, gave an introduction and facilitated a discussion afterwards. Daniels [known then as George Daniels—JC] spent two and half years in prison for refusing to deploy to Vietnam while in the Marines,” said Dixon.

“There was a rally in San Francisco at Justin Herman Plaza,” Joan Marquardt reported, “with about 100-200 people. The big banner read, ‘Thank you Lt. Ehren Watada—Refuse illegal war.’ Several of the speakers were veterans, mostly from the Vietnam era.”

In New York, college-age demonstrators argued with young soldiers outside the Army Recruiting Office on Chambers Street. U.S. strategists talk about a struggle for “hearts and minds” with regard to Iraqis. It is also going on within the U.S. Armed Forces.

The protests around the country appeared to be supported by a broad sector of the anti-war movement. Calls for the actions came from Not In Our Name and the Campus Antiwar Net work and got a lot of support from anti-war veterans’ groups like Vets for Peace. For more information on the protests, see www.thankyoult.org.