Lt. Watada refuses orders to Iraq

“My Lai, Vietnam, 1968. Haditha, Iraq, 2005. Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush hate it when anyone mentions these two events—these two war crimes—in the same breath.”

Protesters say ‘no’ to war crimes. WW photo: John Catalinotto

So starts the June 7 statement the Troops Out Now Coalition sent out with an appeal to active-duty troops to refuse to fight in Iraq, and to U.S. youths to refuse to enlist in the military. The statement, issued June 7, continues: “What is the lesson of My Lai and of Haditha? It’s that when an occupation army is ordered to suppress a resistance movement (in Iraq this is called the ‘insurgency’) that has popular support, then it commits war crimes. ...

“The only choice is to refuse to take part in these military operations in Iraq. And it is up to the anti-war movement to give every support possible to those who refuse.”

The anti-war movement will have an opportunity to give that support to 1st Lt. Ehren Watada. Lt. Watada’s supporters held coordinated news conferences on June 7 in Tacoma, Wash., and Honolulu, Hawaii. When he was restricted from taking part in the noon Tacoma news conference, a video statement was shown instead. Later that night, Watada did meet in person with journalists in Tacoma, near Fort Lewis.

Watada told the world that he would refuse to serve in Iraq because his participation “would make me a party to war crimes.” He also criticized the “wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people.”

Watada, who is of Hawaiian descent, is with the Third (Stryker) Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which is scheduled for its second deployment to Iraq. He tried to resign his commission, but in May the Army rejected his attempt.

The anti-war movement in Washington state is supporting Watada’s decision, according to a June 8 report in the Seattle Times.

Meanwhile, in New York on June 9, activists from TONC and other organizations demonstrated outside the military recruiting center on Chambers Street, near the Borough of Manhattan Com mu nity College and Stuyvesant High School. The slogans on their signs, like “Haditha = My Lai,” were aimed at advising young people not to join the Pentagon’s war drive.

Demonstrators found a favorable response from passersby, including youths from the nearby schools. This showed that the day’s news—that U.S. bombs had killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—had not wiped away the truth about Haditha and other U.S. massacres.

After the Manhattan protest ended, one subway worker was so inspired to see the anti-war placards that he waved three of the protesters through the “special” entry door.

“It’s about time that Iraq war ended,” he said.

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