· mayor and councilors good evening impip cornall from 451 waterline rd inashland and irepresent...

Mayor and Councilors good evening ImPip Cornall from 451 WaterlineRd in Ashland and I represent an Ashland Australian and global groupseeking to create departments ofpeace in countries globally Ill be askingAshland to become a peace city and support the creation ofa department ofpeace in the US and worldwide

Mayor and Councilors I want to start by acknowledging all the good workyou do for the city I know that sometimes despite your good intentions youare harshly criticizedThat is the old paradigm method and as we move towards becoming a peacecity that way ofbehaving will diminish

Ifyou ask most Ashlanders if they would like to live in a peaceful city who s

structure and policies reflect a clear choice to live peacefully my guess isthat every single person without exception would say YES and that no one

would endorse violence or domination as a standard practice especiallywhen it comes tohow they and their loved ones are treated

Not surprisingly this reflects our city s history since in a series of CityCouncil declarations over the last 30 years we have proved our support forpeace principlesIncluding

J Declaring the City of Ashland a NUCLEAR FREE ZONE in

10 1981 82

Ju Endorsing the VALDEZ PRINCIPLES on May 15th 1990v 1 The August 5th 2003 PEACE DECLARATION by then Mayor Alan

1 paCSL tlBr commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days on Aug 6th

You have received on two occasions May Sept 2006 my emailsencouraging the council to adopt a resolution for Ashland to become a peacecity and in so doing support the global movement to create departments ofpeace in countries worldwide

I included some draft resolutions that the council could modify and adopt

In June 2006 in Canada I attended the international people s summit tocreate lepartments ofpeace in countries worldwide The movement to create

departrhents of p iij1cl a global netwdtk ofpeace cities is well underwa

2E yf2fJllJI7 Ja6nas 1

Such a determined and coordinated alliance will not fail and I would like toinvite Ashland to come on board In this time of increasing world conflict itis imperative that progressive cities such as Ashland lead others by fullyadopting the peace paradigm principles

After my short presentation tonight I request this proposal be placed onto theagenda for the next council meeting and or I meet with councilors who are

willing to support it

What is a Peace City

Like Community Policing it canmean many things It is infinite really butinitially could be kept simple The original impetus behind Peace Citydeclarations was the United Nations Education Science and CultureOrganisation s UNESCO efforts in encouraging local communities aroundthe world to build a culture of peace The United Nations stressed thiselement in its 2002 Study on Disarmament and Non proliferation Educationwhich stated

Municipal leaders working with citizen groups are encouraged toestablishpeace cities aspart ofthe UNESCO Cities for Peace networkthrough for example the creation ofpeace museums peace parks websites and the production of booklets onpeacemakers andpeacemaking

Here are a few ideas discuss Ashland Peace Map Handout

Mention Conflict mapping

A peace city would adopt the resolution in favor of the proposed federallegislation to create a United States Department of Peace and see handout

It would support our Senator s and Representative s sponsorship of theproposed federal legislation to create a United States Department of Peace

Ashland has already joined the Mayors for Peace network which bringscities together in a program to achieve a nuclear weapons free world ThePeace City proposal is much broader than disarmament It would be a

collaborative effort between the City Council and Ashlanders to help address

2

the root causes ofconflicts and violence in order to enhance peace in the cityand to contribute tomaking the world a morepeaceful place

My colleague in Wellington NZ sent me information on their peace cityplan We could do similar by bringing together all groups and individualswho support peace practice and principles

The Wellington Foundation has established a Peace City Committee withrepresentatives from

Council ofTrade UnionsFederation ofEthnic CouncilsHokotehi Moriori Trust

Make Poverty HistoryNational Consultative Committee on Disarmament

Nepalese CommunityNew Zealand House of RepresentativesNZ Multicultural MusicNZ Nurses OrganisationNZ Sri Lanka Friendship SocietyOxfam

Parliamentary Network for Nuclear DisarmamentPeace Movement Aotearoa

Prisoner s Aid and Rehabilitation ServiceSoka Gakkai International

Wellington International Poetry FestivalPeace Foundation Wellington Office

Wellington Refugee CouncilWomen s International League for Peace and Freedom WellingtonBranch

Promoting existing activities in Wellington related to peace

Wellington is home to a large number of organizations that are engaged inactivities related to the development of a culture of peace such as

peace groupsmediation services

3

conflict resolution trainersservIce groupsethnic education and support groupshuman rights groupsinternational friendship societies

family support services

youth groups

religious support groups

The Council is also involved in activities related to the culture of peacewhich include

Sister City links

organizing an annual Race Relations Daymaintaining the Peace Flame and Peace Tree in the Botanical Gardensparticipating in the Mayors for Peace organizationdisplaying ofa Welcome to Wellington capital of nuclear free NewZealand sign near the Airport

The Peace City declaration and programme would establish an overallunifying framework that will encourage increased collaboration betweenevents groups and activities and also provide them with much greaterpublic exposure This would be achieved through 3 primary mechanismsNew initiatives related to Wellington s culture of peace will benefit from thecommunity resources that the Council already provides like

community grantsdiscounted meeting space

listing ofupcoming community events on the Council s websitewebpage hosting through the Regional 2020 Communications Trust

Mayor or Deputy Mayor level engagement at the openings ofevents relatedtopeace are possible but should be evaluated on a case by case basisNew initiatives related to Wellington s culture ofpeace will benefit from thecommunity resources that the Council already provides like

community grantsdiscounted meeting space

listing ofupcoming community events on the Council s website

4

webpage hosting through the Regional 2020 Communications Trust

Mayor or Deputy Mayor level engagement at the openings of events relatedto peace are possible but should be evaluated on a case by case basis

War Journalism Peace Journalism

Most of the media that exist in the United States today exhibitcharacteristics of warmedia At any given time television channelsbroadcast the following items or variations on these themes sit com actorswho make derisive comments to get a laugh cartoon characters that beateach other up in order to survive until the end of the episode dramas thatuphold the stereotype that rapists abductors and serial killers prey on

middle class women documentaries which show how only the strongestanimals survive athletes who compete to prove that only one can win andnews stories that recount endless acts ofviolence

Two examples of successful conflict transformation programsinclude Ohio s State Wide School Conflict Management Initiative and the

practice of Community Conferencing The Ohio initiative reports an

improvement in academic achievement a reduction in truancy fewersuspensions and expulsions a decrease in time spent on dealing withdiscipline fmancial cost savings to schools and an improvement in overallschool climate as a result of integrating non violent dispute resolutiontechniques into middle school and high school curriculums The annual cost

per student for the conflict management initiative is 12 compared to 231for suspending a student and 431 for expelling a student Peace Alliance2006

In areas which suffer from high crime rates there is social change throughCommunity Conferencing a restorative justice method which bringstogether all the relevant parties In doing so all parties have the chance to

express themselves and their needs and can contribute to a solution whichmeets the needs ofall parties The program reports a 60 reduction inrecidivism at 10 of the cost ofcurrent criminal justice and disciplinarypractices peace Alliance 2006

5

August 5 2003 City Council MeetingMayor s Declaration to Commemorate Hiroshima Day August 6th and

Nagasaki Day August 7th

Every year on August 6 the city of Hiroshima holds a Peace MemorialCeremony to pray for the peaceful repose of the victims for the abolition ofnuclear weapons and for lasting world peace During that ceremony themayor issues a Peace Declaration directed toward the world at large As longas the need persists Hiroshima s mayor will continue to issue thesedeclarations calling for the elimination ofnuclear weapons from the face ofthe earth This is partof Hiroshima s effort tobuild a world of genuine andlasting world peace where no population will ever again experience the crueldevastation suffered by Hiroshima and Nagasaki

6

Dear CounciloAIlILj 1M

We the undersigned members of DoPeace request that it the following resolution be read aloudand accepted as Public Input at the upcoming council meeting We are requesting that the topic ofpassing a resolution be put on the agenda for the next council meeting and avote be made to passthe resolution A draft ofthe proposed resolution follows

We the undersigned members ofDoPeace wish to call your attention to pending legislation at thefederal level and suggest that you adopt a resolution in its support because ofthe followingbenefits it would bring to the community ofAshland

There is currently an historic citizen lobbying effort to create aU S Department ofPeace Thereis currently abill before both Houses ofCongress House Resolution 3760 and Senate 1756

This historic measure will augment our current problem solving modalities providing practicalnonviolent solutions to the problems ofdomestic and international conflict

The campaign to establish aU S Department ofPeace is only one aspect ofa fundamentalresponse to the problem ofviolence but it is critical

It represents an important collective effort as American citizens to do everything we possiblycan to save the world for our children s children

There is also an historic coordinated international movement to create Departments ofPeace in acritical massofcountries throughout the world

To this end there is an international summit and training in Canada in June 2006 which one ofour

members Pip Cornall from our Oregon district 2 DoPeace group will be attending Thecountries include US UK Canada Japan Australia Italy and Nepal

We the undersigned are members ofagroup DoPeace representing Oregon District 2 to create

Departments ofPeace in the US and other countries There are currently over 300 such groups in50 US states

Thank youThe DoPeace District 2 Team

Pip Cornall 451 Waterline Rd Ashland Oregon 97520 541 840 5836Lynn Perkins P o Box 1365 206 Talent Ave Talent 97540 541 512 1549Shaktari Belew 345 Alta Ave Ashland 97520 488 2518

Please read draft ofresolution prior to next meeting

Support Establishing a United States Department of Peace

WHEREAS during the 108th Congress Rep Dennis Kucinich Democrat ofOhiointroduced in the United States House ofRepresentatives proposed federal legislation tocreate a United States Department ofPeace which garnered the sponsorship offifty two52 members ofthe United States House ofRepresentatives and

WHEREAS during the 109th Congress which began its session on January 1 2005 theproposed federa1legislation tocreate a United States Department ofPeace will bereintroduced and

WHEREAS the proposed federal legislation tocreate a United States Department ofPeace will establish a cabinet level Department of Peace which will be headed by a

Secretary ofPeace who will advise the President on issues that are both domestic andinternational in scope and

WHEREAS the Department ofPeace will consist ofseven 7 offices including

An Office of Peace Education and TrainingDevelop apeace curriculum and supporting materials for distribution to the

department of education in each state

For the building ofcommunicative peace skills nonviolent conflict resolutionskills and other objectives to increase knowledge ofpeace processes includingthe development ofaPeace Academy

An Office of Domestic Peace Activities whose responsibilities are

1 to develop policies that increase awareness about intervention and counselingon domestic violence and conflict

2 to develop policy alternatives for the treatment ofdrug and alcohol abuse

3 to develop new policies and build on existing programs responsive to theprevention ofcrime including the development ofcommunity policing strategiesand peaceful settlement skills among police and other public safety officers and

4 to develop community based strategies for celebrating diversity and promotingtolerance

An Office of International Peace Activities whose responsibilities are

1 to provide for the training and deployment ofall Peace Academy graduates andother nonmilitary conflict prevention and peacemaking personnel2 to sponsor country and regional conflict prevention and dispute resolutioninitiatives in countries experiencing social political and economic strife

3 to advocate the creation ofamultinational nonviolent peace force

4 to provide training for the administration ofpostconflict reconstruction anddemobilization in war tom societies and

5 to provide for the exchange between individuals ofthe U S and other nationswho are endeavoring todevelop domestic and international peace basedinitiatives

An Office of Technology for Peace whose responsibilities are

1 to carry out the functions in the department affecting the awareness study andimpact ofdeveloping new technologies on the creation and maintenance ofdomestic and international peace

2 toprovide grants for the research and development oftechnologies in

transportation communications and energy that are nonviolent in theirapplication and encourage the conservation and sustainability ofnatural resourcesin order to prevent future conflicts regarding scare resources

An Office of Anns Control and Disannament whose responsibilities are

1 toadvise the Secretary ofPeace on all interagency discussions and allinternational negotiations regarding the reduction and elimination ofweapons ofmass destruction throughout the world including the dismantling ofsuch weaponsand the safe and secure storage ofrelated materials

2 toassist nations international agencies and non governmental organizations inassessing the locations ofthe buildup ofnuclear arms

3 todevelop nonviolent strategies todeter the testing or use ofoffensive or

defensive nuclear weapons whether based on land air sea or in outer space

4 to serve as a depository forcopies ofall contracts agreements and treaties thatdeal with the reduction and elimination ofnuclear weapons or the protection ofouter space for militarization and

5 toprovide technical support and legal assistance for the implementation ofsuchagreements

An Office of Peaceful Coexistence and Nonviolent Conflict Resolutionwhose responsibilities are

1 tocarry out those functions in the department affecting research and analysisrelating to creating initiating and modeling approaches to peaceful coexistenceand nonviolent conflict resolution

2 tostudy the impact of war especially on the physical and mental condition ofchildren which shall include the effect ofwar on the environment and publichealth

3 topublish amonthlyjournal ofthe activities ofthe department and encouragescholarly participation

4 to gather information on effective community peace building activities anddisseminate such information to local governments and non governmentalorganizations in the U S and abroad

5 to research the effect ofviolence in the media and make such reports availableto the Congress annually and

6 to sponsor conferences throughout the U S to create awareness ofthe work ofthe department and

An Office of Human Rights and Economic Rights whoseresponsibilities are

1 tocarry out those functions ofthe department supporting the principles oftheUniversal Declaration ofHuman Rights passed by the General Assembly oftheUnited Nations on December 10 1948

2 to assist the Secretary ofPeace in cooperation with the Secretary of State in

furthering the incorporation ofprinciples ofhuman rights as enunciated in theUnited Nations General Assembly Resolution ofDecember 10 1948 into all

agreements between the U S and other nations tohelp reduce the causesofviolence

3 togather information on and document human rights abuses both domesticallyand internationally and recommend to the Secretary of Peace nonviolentresponses to correct abuses

4 tomake such findings available toother agencies in order to facilitatenonviolent conflict resolution

5 toconduct economic analyses ofthe scarcity ofhuman and natural resources as

a source ofconflict and tomake recommendations to the Secretary ofPeace fornonviolent prevention ofsuch scarcity nonviolent intervention in case of scarcityand the development ofprograms ofassistance for people experiencing such

scarcity whether due to armed conflict maldistribution ofresources or naturalcauses and

6 to assist the Secretary ofPeace in cooperation with the Secretary ofState andthe Secretary ofTreasury in developing strategies regarding the sustainability andthe management ofthe distribution of funds from international agencies theconditions regarding the receipt ofsuch funds and the impact of those conditionson the peace and stability ofthe recipient nations

WHEREAS the proposed federal legislation to create a United States Department ofPeace will benefit the City ofAshland by holding peace as an organizing principle for theAmerican Society which will change the tone ofthe society and

WHEREAS the proposed federal legislation to create a United States Department ofPeace will benefit the City ofAshland by developing new programs that relate to thesocietal challenges of domestic violence school violence guns racial or ethnic violenceviolence against gays and lesbians and policecommunity relations disputes which willassist members ofour Police Department in experiencing fewer dangerous encounters

especially while making routine runs and

WHEREAS the proposed federal legislation to create aUnited States Department ofPeace will benefit the City ofAshland by encouraging the development of initiativesfrom the community its religious groups and its non governmental organizations whichwill cause greater community involvement thereby creating a stronger City and

WHEREAS the proposed federal legislation to create aUnited States Department ofPeace will benefit the City ofAshland by eventually reducing federal spending on the

military budget which is 399 billion for fiscal year 2004 2005 thereby redirecting fundsto the states and cities and assisting in the balancing ofour City budget

WHEREAS the proposed federal legislation tocreate aUnited States Department ofPeace has fifty two 52 sponsors of the members of the United States House of

Representatives now therefore be it

THEREFORE NOW BE IT RESOLVED that the Ashland City Council adopts thisresolution in favor ofthe proposed federal legislation tocreate aUnited States

Department ofPeace and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that the Ashland City Council adopts this resolution in supportofour Senator s and Representative s sponsorship ofthe proposed federal legislation to

create aUnited States Department ofPeace

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Draft Resolution before the City Council of Ashlandin support of the creation of a United States Department of Peace

July 25 2005

Whereas military conflicts in the 20th century alone have killed millions of people most of theminnocent civilians women and children and

Whereas even at the dawn of the 21stcentury violence is an overarching theme in the world

encompassing personal group national and international conflict extending to the production ofnuclear biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction which have been developed for useon land in the air under the sea and in outer space and

Whereas such conflict is often taken as a reflection of an inevitable human condition withoutquestioning whether war is really inevitable whether the structures ofthought word and deed whichwe have inherited are any longer sufficient for the sustainability growth and survival of the UnitedStates and the world and indeed whether we can strive tomake peace inevitable and

Whereas nonviolent methods ofresistance have been successful in conflicts where violence did notsucceed ranging from India s struggle for independence to breaking down the walls of the ColdWar to the great strides made towards integration in the United States and

Whereas the United States spends more than the next twenty nations combined on militarypreparations and

Whereas there is no single government entity assigned to report to the American people on thestatus ofour efforts toachieve peace and

Whereas the existence ofcabinet level positions focuses the energies ofthe country and

Whereas implementing nonviolent approaches for domestic programs and foreign mediationrequires broad education understanding research and concerted efforts and

Whereas HR 1673 abill which has 73 co sponsors and which would establish the Department ofPeace has been introduced into the U S Congress and

Whereas a Department of Peace would provide a structure to shift the paradigm in our countrytoward peace a shift which is needed now more than ever to reflect the human spirit of trustrespect and integrity and

Whereas a decrease in conflict and violence will both save federal money and strengthen the fabricofour country

Now therefore be it resolved that the City Council ofAshland supports and affirms the creation ofa Cabinet Level U S Department of Peace to study and advance peace and non violence as theorganizing principles in all human relations from families and neighborhoods to courts andcongresses to cities states and nations

FOR CITY COUNCIL ASHLAND OREGON PACKET RE REQUEST TO PUT ONAGENDA

RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT LT EHREN WATADAFirst U S Military Officer to Publicly Resist Illegal Warand Occupation of Iraq

CONTENTS

1 Donate from thankyoultorg

2 Lt Watada addresses national veterans convention by DahrJamail Truthoutorg 8 142006 from www thankyoultorg

3 Lt Watada s mother asks for your support by Carolyn Ho

Ehren s mom 8 15 2006 from www thankyoult org

4 Iraq combat vets explain support for Lt Watada by SarahOlson Truthoutorg 8 162006 from www thankyoultorg

5 United Nations former Undersecretary Gen takes stand forLt Watada at Military Hearing 8 17 2006 fromwww thankyoult org

6 Watada hearing succeeds in placing war on trial 8 182006from www thankyoultorg

7 Court briefby Historians Against the War and the AmericanFriends Service Committee from www thankyoultorg

8 City Support Expected For Soldier s Iraq Refusal827 2006 from www abclocal go com

9 Statement from the Buddhist Peace Fellowship In SupportofLt Ehren Watada 8 25 2006 and What You Can Do to

Support Lt Watada from www bpf org

10 Statement in Support ofFirst Lieutenant Ehren Watada article

by Debbie Clark of Veterans for Peace Greater Atlanta Chapter125 d clark@antiwar com 770 855 6163

11 A Broken De Humanized Military in Iraq by Dahr Jamail926 2006 from www truthoutorg

Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Donate

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c I4 fJ r r

dfMn tlWIfl U nWA U

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Donate online directly to the Lt Waleda

Defense Fund quickly and securely

These donations are not tax deductible

However online tax deductible donations can be

made via the Hawaii People s Fund More information below

Donate by check or money order

To make a tax deductible donation by postal mail please make checks out

to Hawaii People s Fund and note Lt Watada Defense Fund on the

memo line Please send to

Hawaii People s Fund

Attn Lt Watada Defense Fund

810 N Vineyard Blvd

Honolulu HI 96817 3590

Tax deductible online donation

You can also make an online tax deductible

donation to Lt Watada s defense via the

Hawaii People s Fund by following these

simple steps

4ti

lI tU fuadl

f a0I00Ii

On the Hawaii People s Fund donate page under Gift Information simply

select On behalf or and enter Lt Waleda Defense Fund in the data

entry line example below

Oift laformatioa Id like to make this donation

onbehalf of 0 in memory of

I Lt Watada Defense Fund

http www thankyoult org index php option com wrapper ltemid 30

09 20 2006 09 54 AM

J

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ThankYouLT org

On June 22 U S Army First

Ueutenant Ehren K Watada

became the first commissioned

officer to publicly refuse

deployment to theunlawful

Iraq War and occupation

Lt Watada has been formally

charged with contempt

towards President Bush

conduct unbecoming an officer

and a gentleman and missing

movement

On August 24 the Article 32

pre trial hearing investigatorrecommended a general

court martial on all charges

On September 15 an

additional charge was added

For the first time since 1965

the military is prosecuting an

objector for his opinions He

faces over eight years in

prison over six years for

First Amendment speechalone

Help Lt Watada put thewar

on trial Your support

Including donations to Lt

Watada defense fund are

urgently needed today

Page 1 of 2

Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Donate

une niIDonill UilY OT

Action to Stand Up with

Lt Watilda reportsl

Play Video

Message to supporters

Also please enter U Watada Defense Fund in the Feedback box for goodmeasure Note that Groundspring org will appear on your credit card

statement Donate to the Lt Watilda defense fund here via Hawaii

People s fund

Thank you on behalf of the Friends and Family of Lt

Watada

Updated August 3D 2006 Inspired by Lt Watada s stand a team of

lawyers has committed to defending him at cost However due to the

precedent setting nature of this court martial these costs are project to reach

30 000 or more For example during U Watada s August 17 pre trial hearingat Fort lewis Washington former Assistant Secretary General of the United

Nations Denis Halliday Army Colonel Ann Wright ret and international law

expert Prof Frantis Boyle all took the stand to help Lt Watada set the stage

to put the war on trial All of these witnesses traveled long and far at the

expense of the defense

Possibly even more important than the legal expenses is the battle for public

opinion On this front we will help Lt Watada put the occupation war on trial

regardless of what happens in the military courtroom A mass regional

mobilization against the illegal war in Iraq and in support of U Watada is now

being planned for the Fort Lewis Washington area during any possible court

martial in the Fall A People s Hearing on the question of illegal war and

occupation is also being planned for the Seattle area in the days proceeding

the court martial Finally we are directly supporting a national effort to

support Lt Watada courageous stand via a grassroots network of activists and

in the process help end the war and bring all the troops home

Just how unprecedented our collective actions will be depends in part on your

contribution

Prey Next

Back

@ 2006 Friends and Family of Lt Watadawwwthankyoultorg 866 797 0967

09 20 2006 09 54 AM

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email address

SIGN UP FOR PERIODIC UPDATES via Courage to Resist

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Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Lt Watada addresses national veterans convention

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June 27 National Day of


Lt Watada reports

t

03

Lt Watada addresses national veterans

convention M @

By Dahr Jamail truthout org August 14 2006 photosfJeff Paterson

On Saturday night I was lucky enough to be at the Veterans for Peace National

Convention For that night Lt Ehren Watada was able to give the following

speech which Ive just received permission to post here The speech was met

with a powerful standing ovation from the vets who ve been there

Lt Ehren Watada for those who don t already know became the first

commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to the unlawful war and

occupation in Iraq While doing this on June 22 2006 Watada said As the

order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well I must refuse

that order

Just as Watada took the stage and began to speak over SO members of Iraq

Veterans Against the War filed in behind him Watada surprised by this and

obviously taken aback by the symbolic act turned back to the audience took

some deep breaths then gave this speech

http thankyoultlive radicaldesigns orgcontentview 172

Page 1 of 7

Jj

1 0 1

ThankYoul

On June 22 U

Lieutenant Ehl

became the firs

officer to publici

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Iraq War and

Lt Watada has

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On August 24 t

pre trial hearin

recommended c

martial on all

September 15

charge was ad

For the first tim

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Help Lt Watac

on trial Your s

including donat

Watada s defe

urgently needec

10 3 2006


Play Video


Thank you everyone Thank you all for your tremendous support

How honored and delighted I am to be in the same room with

you tonight I am deeply humbled by being in the company of

such wonderful speakers

You are all true American patriots Although long since out of

uniform you continue to fight for the very same principles you

once swore to uphold and defend No one knows the devastation

and suffering of war more than veterans which is why we

should always be the first to prevent it

I wasn t entirely sure what to say tonight I thought as a leader

in general I should speak to motivate Now I know that this isn t

the military and surely there are many out there who outranked

me at one point or another and yes Im just a Lieutenant And

yet I feel as though we are all citizens of this great country and

what I have to say is not a matter of authority but from one

citizen to another We have all seen this war tear apart our

country over the past three years It seems as though nothing

we ve done from vigils to protests to letters to Congress have

had any effect in persuading the powers that be Tonight I will

speak to you on my ideas for a change of strategy I am here

tonight because I took a leap of faith My action is not the first

and it certainly will not be the last Yet on behalf of those who

follow I require your help your sacrifice and that of countless

other Americans I may fail We may fail But nothing we have

tried has worked so far It is time for change and the change

starts with all of us

I stand before you today not as an expert not as one who

pretends to have all the answers I am simply an American and a

servant of the American people My humble opinions today are

just that I realize that you may not agree with everything I have

to say However I did not choose to be a leader for popularity I

http thankyoultli ve radicaldesigns orgcontentview11721

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Posters t sh

and

10 3 2006


did it to serve and make better the soldiers of this country And I

swore to carry out this charge honorably under the rule of law

Today I speak with you about a radical idea It is one born from

the very concept of the American soldier or service member It

became instrumental in ending the Vietnam War but it has

been long since forgotten The idea is this that to stop an illegal

and unjust war the soldiers can choose to stop fighting it

Now it is not an easy task for the soldier For he or she must be

aware that they are being used for ill gain They must hold

themselves responsible for individual action They must

remember duty to the Constitution and the people supersedes

the ideologies of their leadership The soldier must be willing to

face ostracism by their peers worry over the survival of their

families and of course the loss of personal freedom They must

know that resisting an authoritarian government at home is

equally important to fighting a foreign aggressor on the

battlefield Finally those wearing the uniform must know beyond

any shadow of a doubt that by refusing immoral and illegalorders they will be supported by the people not with mere words

but by action

The American soldier must rise above the socialization that tells

them authority should always be obeyed without question Rank

should be respected but never blindly followed Awareness of the

history of atrocities and destruction committed in the name of

America either through direct military intervention or by proxy

war is crucial They must realize that this is a war not out of

self defense but by choice for profit and imperialisticdomination WMD ties to AI Qaeda and ties to 9 11 never

existed and never will The soldier must know that ournarrowlyand questionably elected officials intentionally manipulated the

evidence presented to Congress the public and the world to

make the case for war They must know that neither Congress

nor this administration has the authority to violate the

prohibition against pre emptive war an American law that still

stands today This same administration uses us for rampant

violations of time tested laws banning torture and degradation of

prisoners of war Though the American soldier wants to do right

the illegitimacy of the occupation itself the policies of this

administration and rules of engagement of desperate field

commanders will ultimately force them to be party to war

crimes They must know some of these facts if not all in order

to act

Mark Twain once remarked Each man must for himself alone

decide what is right and what is wrong which course is patriotic

and which isn t You cannot shirk this and be a man To decide

against your conviction is to be an unqualified and inexcusable

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Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Lt Watada addresses national veterans convention Page 4 of7

traitor both to yourself and to your countryBy this each and

every American soldier marine airman and sailor is responsiblefor their choices and their actions The freedom to choose is onlyone that we can deny ourselves

The oath we take swears allegiance not to one man but to a

document of principles and laws designed to protect the people

Enlisting in the military does not relinquish ones right to seek

the truth neither does it excuse one from rational thought nor

the ability to distinguish between right and wrong I was only

following orders is never an excuse

The Nuremburg Trials showed

America and the world that

citizenry as well as soldiers have

the unrelinquishable obligation to

refuse complicity in war crimes

perpetrated by their

government Widespread torture

and inhumane treatment of detainees is a war crime A war of

aggression born through an unofficial policy of prevention is a

crime against the peace An occupation violating the very

essenceof international humanitarian law and sovereignty is a

crime against humanity These crimes are funded by our tax

dollars Should citizens choose to remain silent through self

imposed ignorance or choice it makes them as culpable as the

soldier in these crimes

The Constitution is no mere document neither is it old out

dated or irrelevant It is the embodiment of all that Americans

hold dear truth justice and equality for all It is the formula for

a government of the people and by the people It is a

government that is transparent and accountable to whom they

serve Itdictates a system of checks and balances and

separation of powers to prevent the evil that is tyranny

As strong as the Constitution is it is not foolproof It does not

fully take into account the frailty of human nature Profit greedand hunger for power can corrupt individuals as much as they

can corrupt institutions The founders of the Constitution could

not have imagined how money would infect our political system

Neither could they believe a standing army would be used for

profit and manifest destiny Like any common dictatorshipsoldiers would be ordered to commit acts of such heinous nature

as to be deemed most ungentlemanly and unbecoming that of a

free country

The American soldier is not a mercenary He or she does not

simply fight wars for payment Indeed the state of the American

soldier is worse than that of a mercenary For a soldier for hire

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can walk away if they are disgusted by their employer s actions

Instead especially when it comes to war American soldiers

become indentured servants whether they volunteer out of

patriotism or are drafted through economic desperation Does it

matter what the soldier believes is morally right If this is a war

of necessity why force men and women to fight When it comes

to a war of ideology the lines between right and wrong are

blurred How tragic it is when the term Catch 22 defines the

modern American military

Aside from the reality of indentured servitude the American

soldier in theory is much nobler Soldier or officer when we

swear our oath it is first and foremost to the Constitution and its

protectorate the people Ifsoldiers realized this war is contrary

to what the Constitution extols if they stood up and threw their

weapons down no President could ever initiate a war of choice

again When we say Against all enemies foreign and

domestic what if elected leaders became the enemy Whose

orders do we follow The answer is the conscience that lies in

each soldier each American and each human being Our duty to

the Constitution is an obligation not a choice

The military and especially the Army is an institution of

fraternity and close knit camaraderie Peer pressure exists to

ensure cohesiveness but it stamps out individualism and

individual thought The idea of brotherhood is difficult to pull

away from if the alternative is loneliness and isolation Ifwe

want soldiers to choose the right but difficult path they must

know beyond any shadow of a doubt that they will be supported

by Americans To support the troops who resist you must make

your voices heard If they see thousands supporting me theywill know I have heard your support as has Suzanne Swift and

Ricky Clousing but many others have not Increasingly more

soldiers are questioning what they are being asked to do Yet

the majority lack awareness to the truth that is buried beneath

the headlines Many more see no alternative but to obey We

must show open minded soldiers a choice and we must give

them courage to act

Three weeks ago Sgt Hernandez from the 172nd Stryker

Brigade was killed leaving behind a wife and two children In an

interview his wife said he sacrificed his life so that his family

could survive I m sure Sgt Hernandez cherished the

camaraderie of his brothers but given a choice I doubt he would

put himself in a position to leave his family husband less and

fatherless Yet that s the point you see People like Sgt

Hernandez don t have a choice The choices are to fight in Iraq or

let your family starve Many soldiers don t refuse this war en

mass because like all of us they value their families over their

own lives and perhaps their conscience Who would willingly

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spend years in prison for principle and morality while denyingtheir family sustenance

I tell this to you because you must know that to stop this war

for the soldiers to stop fighting it they must have the

unconditional support of the people I have seen this support

with my own eyes For me it was a leap of faith For other

soldiers they do not have that luxury They must know it and

you must show it to them Convince them that no matter how

long they sit in prison no matter how long this country takes to

right itself their families will have a roof over their heads food

in their stomachs opportunities and education This is a dauntingtask It requires the sacrifice of all of us Why must Canadians

feed and house our fellow Americans who have chosen to do the

right thing We should be the ones taking care of ourown Are

we that powerless are we that unwilling to risk something for

those who can truly end this war How do you support the troops

but not the war By supporting those who can truly stop it let

them know that resistance to participate in an illegal war is not

futile and not without a future

I have broken no law but the code of silence and unquestioning

loyalty If I am guilty of any crime it is that I learned too much

and cared too deeply for the meaningless loss of my fellow

soldiers and my fellow human beings If I am to be punished it

should be for following the rule of law over the immoral orders of

one man If I am to be punished it should be for not acting

sooner Martin Luther King Jr once said History will have to

record that the greatest tragedy of this period was not the

strident clamor of the bad people but the appalling silence of the

good people

Now Im not a hero I am a leader of men who said enough is

enough Those who called for war prior to the invasion compared

diplomacy with Saddam to the compromises made with Hitler I

say we compromise now by allowing a government that uses

war as the first option instead of the last to act with impunity

Many have said this about the World Trade Towers Never

Again I agree Never again will we allow those who threaten

ourway of life to reign free be they terrorists or elected

officials The time to fight back is now the time to stand up and

be counted is today

I ll end with one more Martin Luther King Jr quote

One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is

unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in

order to arouse the conscience of the community over its

injustice is in reality expressing the highest respect for law

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Thank you and bless you all

The only thing Watada said that I would

disagree with is that he claimed that he is

not a hero He is a leader yet again by

taking this stance And he may never know

how many lives he has already touched

Today it is up to the anti war movement to

make sure his leadership touches as many

soldiers lives in Iraq as possible Watada is

making his stand He needs continued

support

Page 7 of 7

Pres David Cline

As he said if more American soldiers in Iraq know that they along with their

families will be supported if they stand up against this illegal occupation

countless more will follow and this repulsive war will end

Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist who has reported for

the Guardian the Independent and the Sunday Herald He now

writes regularly for Inter Press Service and Truthout

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Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Lt Watada s mother asks for your support

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Lt Watada s mother asks for your support JBy Carolyn Ho Ehren s mom

August 15 2006

Dear Fellow Americans and Citizens of the

International Community I am the mother of Lt

Ehren Watada an officer stationed at Ft Lewis

He was part of a Stryker brigade unit that

deployed to Iraq on June 22nd On that fateful day he quietly defied the

movement order and chose not to board the plane with his men Despite

unrelenting pressure to conform from the day he submitted his request for

discharge in January 2006 to the day of deployment he remained true to his

conviction He believed that he could support his men best by not leading them

into an illegal war and occupation that had already claimed countless Iraqi and

American lives He believed that he could serve them by taking a stand against

the war rather than an being an accomplice in a policy that uses our troops for

immoral unethical purposes

Through rigorous scrutiny of the facts gleaned through research and

consultation with experts inside and outside of the military and the structures of

government he concluded that he could no longer be silent while atrocities were

committed in the name of democracy He could no longer be a tool of an

administration that used nothing but deception and lies to make the case for

pre emptive war He realized that he had not relinquished the freedom to choose

what is right and that the freedom to choose what is right transcends the

allegiance to man and institutions

As an officer his duty is to support and defend the US Constitution against

enemies foreign and domestic and to obey only lawful orders In refusing to

deploy to Iraq Lt Watada fulfilled his duty In response the military chargedhim with missing movement contemptuous remarks against the president and

behavior unbecoming to an officer Taken together these charges amount to 7

years in a military prison

As a mother I have taken the first step in a journey of a thousand miles My

son s decision raised to my awareness the disconnect between what I had taught

him and what I was really willing to have him do Initially the moment of truth

stared me down and I honestly could not find words to justify that self

centered protective response that whispered Not my son Let someone else s

son be a hero Needless to say this experience became a life changing event I

have nothing but admiration and respect for the course my son has chosen He

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10 312006

Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Lt Watada s mother asks for your support

Play Video


has my unconditional support

I invite you to affirm your support of Lt Ehren Watada now during his pre trial

hearing on Aug 17th and 18th and into the future Whether or not he is

permitted to submit evidence supporting his refusal to deploy and his first

amendment rights remains to be seen Nevertheless the military must know

that the world is watching and that justice must be served

On August 16th National Day of Education groups nationally and internationallyare asked to conduct teach ins to address the illegality and immorality of the

Iraq war and occupation and the message Lt Watada conveys Instruction and

dialog can be conducted in schools homes churches community centers etc In

addition rallies bannering vigils etc will be held at Ft Lewis and throughoutthe US and abroad This is an opportunity to raise consciousness to empower

and to inspire the masses to action

Join us in laying the groundwork for mass mobilization and civil disobedience

during the court martial

For updates on news and actions regarding Lt Watada for a downloadable tool

kit to assist you in conducting a teach in on August 16th National Day of

Education for posters leaflets T shirts and instructions for making a donation

toward the Lt Watada s legal defense fund please refer to the official web site

www thankyoultorg

Peace and Gratitude

Carolyn Ho Ehren s Mom

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Iraq combat vets explain support for LtWatada

By Sarah Olson truthout org

August 16 2006

Clifton Hicks was looking for a body

Specifically the Army tank driver was

fumbling about in the dark looking for and

failing to find the remains of the Iraqis who

moments before had been firing on his tank

When Hicks s flashlight swept the ground

around his feet he realized he was standing in the remains of a man LiterallyHis boots wedged between the rib cage and the pelvis blood and human organs

squishing out from beneath the souls of his shoes

It s this experience and others like it that made Hicks question the war in Iraq It

also compelled him to support US Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada the

highest ranking member of the military to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq

28 year old Lieutenant Watada disobeyed deployment orders on June 22nd

several weeks after announcing his opposition to the war at a press conference

He is charged with six violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice one

count of missing troop movement two counts of speaking contemptuouslytoward officials and three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a

gentleman An Article 32 hearing is scheduled forThursday August 17th to

decide whether to proceed with a general court martial If tried and convicted

Lieutenant Watada could face over 7 years in prison

GI resistance is a growing trend

The Army would like to depict Lieutenant

Watada as a lone military voice of dissent a

renegade upon whom enlisted men and

officers alike look with scorn and derision

But Clifton Hicks is joining a growing number

of Iraq war combat veterans who support the

Lieutenant And he says for every veteran

who supports Lieutenant Watada publiclythere are possibly hundreds more who feel

they cannot speak out

Clifton Hicks


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10 3 2006


Play Video


Geoffrey Millard is a sergeant in the Army National Guard and has no problem

speaking publicly or supporting Lieutenant Watada He spent eight years in the

military and was in Iraq between 2004 and 2005 He says GI resistance is a

growing trend American GIs are beginning to respect the Nuremberg principles

They are resisting orders they are going to jail going to Canada and going

AWOL And they re talking about why they re doing it

When he was ordered to deploy Millard says he didn t know how to resist the

war Lieutenant Watada hadn t come forward I didn t know about Camilo

Mejia This he says is the importance of Lieutenant Watada s public opposition

to the war Itshows military personnel who disagree with the Iraq war another

path

Millard says it s important that leaders like Lieutenant Watada are supported the

brutality and duration of the US occupation demand it He remembers a day

during his tour of duty when a soldier opened fire on a car killing an entire

family During the evening briefing the commanding colonel said If these

fucking Hajjis would learn to drive this shit wouldn t happen This is one of

countless examples Millard has of the dehumanization accompanying the Iraqwar This person wiped out an entire bloodline and the colonel implied it was

the victims fault using language designed to offend and demean them

We were conditioned to hate them

Army tank driver Clifton Hicks says the military presence in Iraq is clearly not

making a difference for the Iraqi people We didn t care about Iraqis because

we were conditioned to hate them He says he knows from experience that

Lieutenant Watada s belief that the war is illegal and immoral is the correct

position

Hicks is haunted by his activity in Iraq He talks about what he calls the

wedding party incident His unit was on patrol when they heard shootingbetween US armed forces and what they thought were Iraqi insurgents While

Hicks prepared to go house to house in search of the enemy what he discovered

instead was a wedding Some of the men had been shooting rifles into the air as

is customary during family parties and celebrations Three people from the

wedding were shot a six year old girl was killed When the platoon sergeant

called the command center to report the incident all they said to us was

Charlie Mike a stupid Army acronym for continue mission

No one spoke of the incident and it was like it never happened What struck me

most was just how callous we had become I didn t even care myself Sure some

Iraqi kid had been killed big deal It s like seeing a dead dog on the side of the

road Hicks said he had no thoughts of shame or regret no thoughts of the

girl s mother or friends

We hated them and were happy to have killed one For as long as I can

remember I ve been taught to fear and mistrust Arabs That s how those kids on

the news were able to rape the 14 year old girl shoot her in the face and kill


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her whole family They just didn t care they still don t care they couldn t make

themselves care if they tried Every soldier on the frontlines is capable of that or

worse

Hicks eventually filed for and received conscientious objector status He wants

the US to withdraw from Iraq immediately and is convinced Lieutenant Watada

is taking the only honorable and patriotic action available in the face of what he

calls an unjust and illegal war The only way to be a patriot is to be against the

war Thomas Jefferson would pat me and Lieutenant Watada on the back

I feel guilt all the time about what I contributed

Indiscriminate violence is only one of the reasons Prentice Reid supports

Lieutenant Watada Reid was in the Army Infantry for one tour in Iraq between

March of 2002 and 2003 He was honorably discharged in May of 2005 and is

now a student at Central Texas College near Ft Hood Texas To Lieutenant

Watada he writes I only hope all of us can find the balls to stand up fortruth

when the time comes You risked not only your reputation but also potentially

your freedom for truth and for this we all salute you sir

Reid says he questioned the war from the beginning but his doubts deepenedwhen he arrived in Iraq The entire war was a sham from the beginning Reid

says There were no WMDs No connection to Osama bin Laden I m over there

thinking we have an enemy but this is contradicted every day by what Im

seeing as I drive around

Reid was a truck driver in Iraq and one of his responsibilities was to transport

Iraqi prisoners to US run prisons I would see how they were treated there was

so much abuse There was no restroom for them and they had to urinate and

defecate on themselves Reid says most were later released without charges

having been filed against them

The longer we were there the more things deteriorated There was tighter

security more check points Things were not rebuilt I wish I had had the

courage and the platform to speak out Reid says I have insomnia I have

nightmares I feel guilt all the time about what I contributed

Reid says families and communities are destroyed due to the length of time

troops are required to spend in Iraq and their insufficient medical treatment

when they return He says he s put his own wife and daughter through hell He

doesn t want others to experience this type of trauma and believes that leaders

like Lieutenant Watada are taking an important and necessary step toward

ending the war He says that rather than feeling betrayed by Lieutenant

Watada s actions he feels encouraged and supported

Lieutenant Watada speaks for me

An active duty Army specialist who has asked to use only his initials DP

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stationed at Ft Stewart Georgia joined the Army in April of 2003 He was

injured during training but expects to join his unit in Afghanistan in February of

2007 At Ft Stewart he s escorted war resisters to their court martial and is

generally sympathetic But it s different for a Lieutenant to make this kind of

stand he says To see an officer who recognizes that something is wrong and

who would take that kind of heat I really respect that

When he joined the Army DP believed in what was happening in Iraq When I

learned there were no WMDs I was pretty disappointed in the military

intelligence the analysts and everyone who swore up and down that this was a

necessary pre emptive strike he says As the US armed forces mission in Iraqdisappears DP says new goals are put in place The goal of finding weapons of

mass destruction turned into the military overthrow of Saddam Hussein as the

objective After Hussein was detained the military was to help stabilize Iraq

Our mission isn t clear and keeps shifting I feel like a puppet

Over the phone you can hear DP talking to his son He and his wife are also

expecting twins He says that while he doesn t support the Iraq war protestingisn t an option for him I don t have the financial freedom to protest the war

Lieutenant Watada is speaking for me DP is the only member of his family with

a paying job and with twins on the way he doesn t feel he can risk going to

prison But DP says the anti war protests are important We in the militarydon t have free speech Ifyou ve got a problem with the government you need

to be able to tell them

DP says he got in trouble recently for talking about Lieutenant Watada His

commanding officers told him that as long as he was in the military and wearingthe military uniform he needed to keep a low profile and not voice anti

government opinions

Regretting participation in the war or something

It takes real courage to resist the war

says Cloy Richards a former artillerycannoneer for the Marines I was afraid to

not go afraid to say no I took the easy way

out and went to the war It takes way more

bravery to say no

Cloy Richards

Corporal Richards did two tours of duty in

Iraq between March and October of 2003 and again between March and

October of 2004 Like so many in the military his initial support for the invasion

began to disintegrate as the occupation lengthened and became more brutal

I was in the artillery unit I saw a lot of civilian casualties says Richards who

has seven nephews and one niece I love kids he says And his views of the

Iraq war began to change as he saw Iraqi children die He particularlyremembers watching some kids play with unexploded ammunition When it

exploded several of them were killed and several more were disfigured Itwas


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10 32006


kind of like everything else over there I just shoved it to the back of my mind

somewhere and forgot about it Except that Richards couldn t actually forget

Richards has a hard time forgetting other experiences in Iraq as well For

example the first time he was ambushed on March 25th 2003 My

commanding officer lost his hand that day Richards remembers But he

wrapped cloth around the remaining portions of his arm and lecf us into battle

By his second tour of duty Richards says he didn t want to fight The reason he s

speaking out now he says is not because he has some kind of agenda It s justthat Ive been there Ive seen it I feel sorry and am trying to make amends for

all the bad things Ive been a part of I should have said no the second time

when my heart and my mind were telling me not to go

This guilt is part of the reason Richards says it s so important for the people like

Lieutenant Watada to take the lead As an officer he lends more credibility to

anti war sentiments among the troops The Lieutenant is leading by exampleand this is taken very seriously An officer s example is what we are supposed to

follow It s only now Richards says that he s found an example that he wants

to follow

Listening to the troops

Geoffrey Millard the a year Army National

Guard veteran is quick to point out that not

any single story is conclusive Each member

of the military has something to tell that

folks back in the states can learn from Each

of these stories means something he says

The experiences and the expertise of Iraq

war veterans are missing from the media

coverage of the Iraq war When we turn on the evening news we don t ever

hear about a GIs experience This leads to a skewed and unrealistic impressionof the war Millard says that if the Iraq war veterans opinions and experience

were valued the Army would be forced to uphold Lieutenant Watada as a hero

rather than attempt to put him in prison

For now there are dozens of members of the military who publicly support

Lieutenant Watada There are likely hundreds more who are watching anxiouslyin silence waiting for an outcome in Lieutenant Watada s case They all say theyview him as a true war hero and believe in his efforts to end the Iraq war They

say he is fighting for what they believe in and for that they are grateful In

Army parlance they might say Charlie Mike continue mission


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10 3 2006

Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Iraq combat vets explain support for Lt Watada Page 6 of 6

Lt Watada with Iraq Veterans Against the War

Sarah Olson is an independent journalist and radio producer based inOakland

California

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United Nations former Undersecretary Gentakes stand for Lt Watada at military hearing

Q @

Ft Lewis Washington On August 17th

U S Army First Lieutenant Ehren K Watada

the first commissioned officer to publiclyrefuse to deploy to Iraq appeared before a

military court for the first hearing of a case

that raises core Constitutional issues about

the legality of the Iraq war freedom of

speech and the limits of presidential power

l tf

Defense witnesses Prof

Francis Boyle Dennis Halliday

Army Col Ann Wright ret

Watada s civilian counsel Eric A Seitz of Honolulu called expert witnesses

including former United Nations Undersecretary Denis Halliday University of

Illinois Professor Francis Boyle an international law expert and U S ArmyColonel Ann Wright ret that supported Lt Watada s contentions that the

invasion of Iraq violated domestic and international law and that high level

policies and rules of engagement permit encourage and condone the

commission of war crimes in Iraq

Watada announced his intention to refuse to deploy to Iraq in June explainingIt is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not

only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law The war and what

we re doing over there is illegal

He has since been charged with three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer

and a gentleman two counts for the same statements of contempt towards

officials specifically President G W Bush and one count of missing movement

If found guilty of all charges Lt Watada faces over seven years in confinement

He faces over five years imprisonment forsimply expressing his opinion that

President Bush misled the American people into an illegal war The one dayArticle 32 hearing on August 17th was similar to a civilian grand jury hearing

Before the hearing Lt Watada s lead civilian lawyer Eric Seitz declared The

defense will prove not only that what Lt Watada said about the war is true but

that as an officer in the United States Army he was duty bound to learn the truth

about this war and having done so to refuse to carry out orders to participate in

it

For its part the military requested that two civilian journalists appear for the

prosecution Neither Gregg K Kakesako of the Honolulu Star Bulletin nor

Oakland based Sarah L Olson of Truthout org did so voluntarily However the


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On June 22 U

Lieutenant Ehl

became the firs

officer to publici

deployment tc

Iraq War and

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charged with c

towards Presil

conduct unbeco

and a gentlema

movement

On August 24 t

pre trial hearin

recommended c

martial on all

September 15

charge was ad

For the first tim

the military is p

objector for his

faces overeigt

prison over sl

Amendment spe

Help Lt Watac

on trial Your s

including donat

Watada s defe

urgently neede

10 3 2006

Thank You Lt Ehren Watada United Nations former Undersecretary Gen takes standfo Page 2 of 2

Play Video


military will have subpoena power during the actual court martial and requirestheir testimony to confirm Lt Watada s speech crimes

On August 16th 300 supporters converged on Ft Lewis to demand that Lt

Watada not be court martialed for fulfilling his obligation under international law

to refuse illegal orders Supporters national and internationally also participatedin a Day of Education to study and publicly pose the question Is the Iraq War

illegal

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Lt Watada reports

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Watada hearing succeeds in placing war on

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Aug 18 news Sides stake claims to law The

Olympian Hearing puts war on trial Seattle

Post Intelligencer Putting thewar on trial

Time CNN Watada expresses no regrets

Star Bulletin AP Friends and Family of Lt

Watada media advisory below

Ft Lewis WA Yesterday the defense for Lt Watada has succeeded in placingthe war in Iraq on trial

We appreciated the opportunity to lay the groundwork to prove that the war in

Iraq is illegal and that Lt Watada coming to this conclusion after much

research was duty bound to refuse to participate Eric Seitz civilian counsel for

Lt Watada said This case is really about the duty of individual soldiers to look

at the facts and fulfill their obligation to national and international law he said

The Article 32 hearing closed today at 2 00 p m Investigating Officer Lieutenant

Colonel Mark Keith will release a recommendation within the next few days

regarding whether to refer Lt Watada for court martial and for which charges

Despite frequent objections from the prosecution LTC Keith allowed the defense

to present evidence about the illegality of the war in Iraq Approximately three

hours of the four hour hearing were devoted to testimony by former United

Nations Undersecretary Denis Halliday Army Colonel Ann Wright ret who

resigned in March 2003 to protest the invasion of Iraq and University of Illinois

Professor Francis Boyle an international law expert

The defense submitted documents into evidence including an amicus brief filled

by the American Civil Liberties Union the Charterof the United Nations The War

Crimes Act a German high court ruling in favor of a soldier who refused to

participate in the Iraq war and letters of support from organizations and

prominent individuals including Representative Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii

Two journalists who the prosecution intends to subpoena as witnesses for the

court martial should it occur did not appear at the Article 32 hearing for which

the prosecution lacks subpoena powers

http thankyoultli ve radicaldesigns org contentview1177I

Page 1 of 2

ThankYoul

On June 22 U

Lieutenant Ehl

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Lt Watada has

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On August 24 t

pre trial hearin

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martial on all

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10 3 2006

Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Watada hearing succeeds in placing war on trial

Play Video


Lt Ehren Watada left walks with his father Bob Watada his

stepmother Rosa Sakanishi and attorney Eric Seitz during a

break in an Army hearing on Watada s refusal to deploy to Iraq

August 18 2006 Photo Associated Press

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Lt Watada reports

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Court brief by Historians Against the War andthe American Friends Service Committee Q1lje

If Lt Watada refuses to take part in the

combat activity of his unit he may endanger the

lives of his fellow soldiers as well as his own life

If he obeys now and grieves later the war

crimes will likely be consummated long before

the protest can be resolved Perhaps the soldier

perceives not a single war crime but a pattern of seriousmisconductThe

decision in Lieutenant Watada s case will be consequential not just for him but

for thousands of other United States service persons who may find themselves

faced with the same dilemma

View complete amici curiae court brief PDF

BRIEF ON BEHALF OF AMICI CURIAE HISTORIANS AGAINST THE WAR AND

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE IN SUPPORT OF FIRST

UEUTENENT EHREN K WATADA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF AMICI

I INTRODUCTION

II THE NUREMBERG PRECEDENT

A The Defense Of Superior Orders Rejected

B Aggressive War Is A Crime Under International Law No Matter

Which Nation May In Future Commit That Crime

C International Law Takes Precedence Over National Law

III THE NUREMBERG PRECEDENT IN UNITED STATES COURTS AND MIUTARY

TRIBUNALS

A David Mitchell And The Fort Hood Three

B Howard Levy


7

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ThankYoul

On June 22 U

Lieutenant Ehl

became the firs

officer to publici

deployment tc

Iraq War and

Lt Watada has

charged with c

towards Presi

conduct unbeco

and a gentlema

movement

On August 24 t

pre trial hearin

recommended c

martial on all

September 15

charge was adl

For the first tim

the military Is p

objector for his

faces overeigt

prison over si

Amendment SpE

Help Lt Watac

on trial Your s

including don at

Watada s defe

urgently needec

ij1 ij indj A

10 22006

Ii I

Thank You Lt Ehren Watada Court briefby Historians Against the War and the Americ Page 2 of 4

Play Video


C After Vietnam

IV CONCLUSION


Historians Against the War HAW was formed early in 2003 at a meeting of the

American Historical Association To date HAW s activities have included

successfully sponsoring resolutions at professional gatherings of historians

favoring protection of free speech about the war on college campuses

development of a bibliography on the Gulf wars and a pamphlet series on such

topics as war resistance in American history and torture

The American Friends Service Committee AFSC is a practical expression of the

faith of the Religious Society of Friends Quakers AFSC was founded in 1917 to

provide conscientious objectors an opportunity to serve those in need instead of

fighting during World War I Committed to the principles of nonviolence and

justice AFSC seeks in its work and witness to draw on the transforming power of

love human and divine AFSC regards no person as an enemy While AFSC

opposes specific actions and abuses of power its programs seek to address the

goodness and truth in each individual AFSC seeks and trusts the power of the

Spirit to guide the individual and collective search for truth and practical action

In 1947 AFSC received the Nobel Peace Prize with the British Friends Service

Council on behalf of Friends worldwide The AFSC is directed by a Quaker board

and staffed by Quakers and other people of faith who share the Friends desire

for peace and social justice The organization operates programs across the

United States and on four other continents

I INTRODUCTION

As amici understand the posture of this case Lt Ehren K Watada has refused

deployment to Iraq and court martial proceedings are imminent

Amici understand further that Lt Watada is not a conscientious objector because

he does not object to war in any form and is willing to serve in other wars He

takes issue with the legality and morality of the war in Iraq the deceptions that

led to the unilateral United States invasion and the conduct of the war including

blockades of cities indiscriminate assaults on homes and businesses detention

and torture of prisoners and the like Lt Watada believes that if he were to

serve in Iraq and lead men into battle there he would be committing and

supporting the commission of war crimes and therefore he has concluded that is

something he cannot do in good conscience and consistent with the oath of office

he swore when he accepted his commission

Judging from its pretrial pleading in the cases of United States v SSG MejiaCastillo and United States v Sergeant Kevin Benderman Second Judicial

District United States Army the Army will predictably assert 1 arguments

that the war in Iraq is illegal and or that the President lacked authority to initiate

http thankyoult1ive radicaldesigns orgcontentview 189

Posters t sh

and

10 22006

I

Thank You LtEhren Watada Court briefby Historians Against the War and the Americ Page 3 of4

the war are barred by the political question doctrine and 2 Lieutenant

Watada s personal philosophy and his beliefs concerning Operation Enduring

Iraqi Freedom are irrelevant and evidence of this sort should be excluded

Amici submit that the Army misconceives a central issue That issue is Under

the Nuremburg Principles as incorporated by the United States Army in US Army

Field Manual The Law of Land Warfare FM 27 10 1956 does Lieutenant

Watada have a good faith and reasonable belief that he would be ordered to

commit war crimes and that such orders would be likely to continue

Accordingly this case presents the dilemma faced by a soldier who in the midst

of a military campaign confronts what reasonably appear to him to be orders to

commit war crimes

What is he to do

There appear to be no good solutions

If he refuses to take part in the combat activity of his unit he may endanger the

lives of his fellow soldiers as well as his own life

If he obeys now and grieves later the war crimes will likely be consummated

long before the protest can be resolved

Perhaps the soldier perceives not a single war crime but a pattern of serious

misconduct Indeed he may conclude that his country is engaged in what the

United States at Nuremberg insisted should be viewed as the principal war

crime a war of aggression or crime against peace

What then

Should the soldier be required to continue to take part in what he believes in

good faith to be a pattern of criminality until months later the status of his

protest is decided

Amici believe that all these questions are posed by Lieutenant Watada s

experiences

The decision in Lieutenant Watada s case will be consequential notjust for him

but for thousands of other United States service persons who may find

themselves faced with the same dilemma

Read complete amici curiae court brief PDF

Prey Next

Back

@ 2006 Friends and Family of Lt Watada

http thankyoultli ve radicaldesigns orgcontentview11891 10 22006

UNITED STATES

V

FIRST LIEUTENANT EHREN K WATADA

BRIEF ON BEHALF OF AMICICURIAE HISTORIANS AGAINSTTHE WAR AND AMERICANFRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE

BRIEF ON BEHALF OF AMICI CURIAE HISTORIANS AGAINST THE WARAND AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE

IN SUPPORT OF FIRST LIEUTENENT EHREN K WATADA

TABLE OF CONTENTS


I INTRODUCTION



B Aggressive War Is A Crime Under International Law NoMatter Which Nation May In Future Commit That Crime

C International Law Takes Precedence Over National Law

III THE NUREMBERG PRECEDENT IN UNITED STATES COURTS ANDMILITARY TRIBUNALS


B Howard Levy

C After Vietnam

IV CONCLUSION

II


Historians Against the War HAW was formed early in 2003 at

a meeting of the American Historical Association To date HAW s

activities have included successfully sponsoring resolutions at

professional gatherings of historians favoring protection of free

speech about the war on college campuses development of a

bibliography on the Gulf wars and a pamphlet series on such

topics as war resistance in American history and torture

The American Friends Service Committee AFSC is a practical

expression of the faith of the Religious Society of Friends

Quakers AFSC was founded in 1917 to provide conscientious

objectors an opportunity to serve those in need instead of

fighting during World War I Committed to the principles of

nonviolence and justice AFSC seeks in its work and witness to

draw on the transforming power of love human and divine AFSC

regards no person as an enemy While AFSC opposes specific

actions and abuses of power its programs seek to address the

goodness and truth in each individual AFSC seeks and trusts the

power of the Spirit to guide the individual and collective search

for truth and practical action

In 1947 AFSC received the Nobel Peace Prize with the British

Friends Service Council on behalf of Friends worldwide The AFSC

is directed by a Quaker board and staffed by Quakers and other

people of faith who share the Friends desire for peace and

social justice The organization operates programs across the

United States and on four other continents

1

I INTRODUCTION

As amici understand the posture of this case Lt Ehren K

Watada has refused deployment to Iraq and court martial

proceedings are imminent

Amici understand further that Lt Watada is not a

conscientious objector because he does not object to war in any

form and is willing to serve in other wars He takes issue with

the legality and morality of the war in Iraq the deceptions

that led to the unilateral United States invasion and the

conduct of the war including blockades of cities indiscriminate

assaults on homes and businesses detention and torture of

prisoners and the like Lt Watada believes that if he were

to serve in Iraq and lead men into battle there he would be

committing and supporting the commission of war crimes and

therefore he has concluded that is something he cannot do in good

conscience and consistent with the oath of office he swore when

he accepted his commission

Judging from its pretrial pleading in the cases of United

States v SSG Mejia Castillo and United States v Sergeant Kevin

Benderman Second Judicial District United States Army the

Army will predictably assert 1 arguments that the war in Iraq

is illegal and or that the President lacked authority to initiate

the war are barred by the political question doctrine and 2

Lieutenant Watada s personal philosophy and his beliefs

concerning Operation Enduring Iraqi Freedom are irrelevant and

evidence of this sort should be excluded

3

Amici submit that the Army misconceives a central issue

That issue is Under the Nuremburg Principles as incorporated

by the United States Army in US Army Field Manual The Law of

Land Warfare FM 27 10 1956 does Lieutenant Watada have a good

faith and reasonable belief that he would be ordered to commit

war crimes and that such orders would be likely to continue

Accordingly this case presents the dilemma faced by a

soldier who in the midst of a military campaign confronts what

reasonably appear to him to be orders to commit war crimes

What is he to do

There appear to be no good solutions

If he refuses to take part in the combat activity of his

unit he may endanger the lives of his fellow soldiers as well as

his own life

If he obeys now and grieves later the war crimes will

likely be consummated long before the protest can be resolved

Perhaps the soldier perceives not a single war crime but a

pattern of serious misconduct Indeed he may conclude that his

country is engaged in what the United States at Nuremberg

insisted should be viewed as the principal war crime a war of

aggression or crime against peace

What then

Should the soldier be required to continue to take part in

what he believes in good faith to be a pattern of criminality

until months later the status of his protest is decided

Amici believe that all these questions are posed by

4

II

Lieutenant Watada s experiences

The decision in Lieutenant Watada s case will be

consequential not just for him but for thousands of other

United States service persons who may find themselves faced with

the same dilemma

5

u


For the past half century the verdicts at Nuremberg in

trials of German leaders after World War II have provided the

fundamental standards by which alleged war crimes are to be

assessed

The Charter of the International Military Tribunal IMT

identified three kinds of war crimes

a Crimes against peace namely planning preparationinitiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war

in violation of international treaties agreements or

assurances or participation in a common plan or

conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the

foregoingb War crimes namely violations of the laws or customs

of war Such violations shall include but not belimited to murder ill treatment or deportation toslave labor or for any other purpose of civilianpopulation of or in occupied territory murder or illtreatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas

killing of hostages plunder of public or privateproperty wanton destruction of cities towns or

villages or devastation not justified by militarynecessity

c Crimes against humanity namely murderextermination enslavement deportation and otherinhumane acts committed against any civilian

population before or during the war or persecutionson political racial or religious grounds in executionof or in connection with any crime within the

jurisdiction of the Tribunal whether or not inviolation of domestic law of the country where

perpetrated1

IThe Charter was part of the Treaty of London Aug 8 194559 Stat 1544 which established an International Military

Tribunal The Nuernberg Case as Presented by Robert H JacksonChief Of Counsel for the United States New York Cooper SquarePublishers 1971 pp 22 23 The first session of the generalassembly of the United Nations unanimously affirmed the principlesof international law in the Charter and directed theInternational Law Commission to formulate them into an

International Criminal Code Res 95 1 Dec 11 1946 Thetext of the Charter may be found in Michael R Marrus The

Nuremburg War Crimes Trial 1945 46 A Documentary History

6

Apart from the definition of war crimes three principles

set forth in the Charter are of particular importance here

The first is that the defense of superior orders2

is

expressly rejected

The second is that aggressive war is a crime no matter what

nation may commit it

The third is that international law must take precedence

over the law of any particular nation


Article 8 of the Charter specified The fact that the

defendant acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a

superior shall not free him from responsibility but may be

considered in mitigation of punishment if the Tribunal determines

Boston Bedford Books 1997 pp 51 55

2This was later often called the Eichmann defense inreference to the spectacular trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalemin 1961 Eichmann had been head of the Jewish Affairs Section ofthe Reich Security Head Office and was viewed as one of those

chiefly responsible for the attempted final solution of theJewish question Eichmann s defense rested in part on the claimthat he had acted on superior orders and moreover under duressthat left him no moral choice The Israeli court rejected this

argument holding that the accused closed his ears to the voiceof conscience The court quoted the judgment of a District

Military Court following the IMT that if an order was manifestlyunlawful it cannot be used as an excuse Cited in Robert K

Woetzel The Nuremberg Trials in International Law with a

Postlude on the Eichmann Case New York Praeger 1962 p 269The Court of Appeals in Eichmann s case further concluded in 1962that the appellant had received no superior orders at all Hewas his own superior and he gave all orders in matters thatconcerned Jewish affairs Cited in Hannah Arendt Eichmannin Jerusalem New York Viking Press 1963 p 227

7

that justice so requires 3

Nevertheless several of the defendants in the Trial of the

Major War Criminals and many defendants in subsequent trials used

the argument of superior orders to defend themselves The

Judgments of the International Military Trubunal IMT rejected

this defense in all cases generally on the ground that the

Charter prohibited it In some cases the defense was rejected

even for the purpose of mitigating a sentence For example in

the case of Wilhelm Keitel Chief of the High Command of the

Armed Forces directly under Hitler the Tribunal concluded

There is nothing in mitigationsoldier cannot be considered in

shocking and extensive have been

ruthlessly and without military

Superior orders even to a

mitigation where crimes as

committed consciouslyexcuse or justification

4

Similarly the defense of superior orders was rejected without

mitigation in the case of Alfred JodI

There is nothing in mitigation Participation in such war

crimes as these has never been required of any soldier and

he cannot now shield himself behind a mythical requirementof soldierly obedience at all costs as his excuse for

commission of these crimes 5

Article 8 of the Charter was extended essentially unchanged

to the prosecution of war crimes throughout occupied Germany by

3Marrus The Nuremburg War Crimes Trial p 53

4Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International

Military Tribunal Nuremburg 14 November 1945 1 October 1946

hereafter TMWC Nuremburg Secretariat of the Tribunal 1948

v XXII p 536

5TMWC v XXII p 571

8

Article II 4 b of Control Council Law No 10 6 Numerous trials

conducted under the authority of the four occupying powers in

accord with this law built up a substantial body of judicial

opinion on the inadmissibility of the defense of superior

orders which was drawn upon in the later trial of Adolf

Eichmann see note 2 above In the opinion of Telford Taylor

who served at Nuremberg as Chief of Counsel for war crimes and

chief prosecutor the major legal significance of the Law No 10

trials lay in those portions of the judgments dealing with the

area of personal responsibility for international law crimes 7

B Aggressive War Is A Crime Under International Law No MatterWhat Nation May Commit That Crime

The nations which framed the Charter the judges of the

Tribunal and in particular the representatives of the United

States considered that henceforth the crimes defined at

Nuremberg should apply to all nations including those that

conducted the trials Among these crimes was the crime against

peace of aggressive war

Robert Jackson Associate Justice of the United States

Supreme Court and Chief Counsel for the United States during the

Nuremberg proceedings reported that the definition of aggressive

war occasioned the most serious disagreement at the conference

6Telford Taylor Final Report to the Secretary of the Army on

the Nuernberg sic War Crimes Trials under Control Council LawNo 10 Washington D C U S Government Printing Office 15

August 1949 esp pp 6 9 250 53

7Id p 109 emphasis by Taylor

9

which drafted the Charter Jackson stated that the United States

declined to recede from its position even if it meant the

failure of the Conference He described the conflict as

follows

The Soviet Delegation proposed and until the last meetingpressed a definition which in our view had the effect of

declaring certain acts crimes only when committed by theNazis The United States contended that the criminalcharacter of such acts could not depend on who committedthem and that international crimes could only be defined inbroad terms applicable to statesmen of any nation guilty ofthe proscribed conduct 8

Telford Taylor corroborates Jackson s account According to

Taylor the definition of the crimes to be charged was an

important question of principle which at first appeared to be

intractable The Soviets Taylor says wanted to charge the

Nazi leaders with a ggression against or domination over other

nations carried out by the European Axis The Soviets

were willing to define war crimes and crimes against humanity

as violations of international law no matter by whom committed

But the Russians and the French resisted creating a new

crime of aggressive war9

8Report of Robert H Jackson United States Representative to

the International Conference on Military Trials New York AMSPress 1949 pp vii viii

9Telford Taylor The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials New

York Alfred A Knopf 1992 pp 65 66 emphasis added

Scholarship during the past half century has confirmed the account

by Jackson and Taylor An authoritative article appearing in 2002states

the difficulties centered on whether the substantivedefinition of aggression would specify Nazi or Axisaggression the Soviet position or would define the crime

10

II

At the final meeting of the London conference the Soviet

qualifications were dropped and agreement was reached on a

generic definition acceptable to all In his Opening Statement

to the Tribunal Justice Jackson articulated the consensus

reached by the United States France Great Britain and the

Soviet Union

L et me make clear that while this law is first appliedagainst German aggressors the law includes and if it is to

serve a useful purpose it must condemn aggression by anyother nations including those which sit here now in

judgment10

Telford Taylor quoted this solemn affirmation by Justice Jackson

on the first page of Taylor s subsequent book on Nuremberg and

Vietnam11

against peace in a clean universal way that might in

another era even include American acts the Jackson

position In the end the Charter for the new

tribunal embodied Jackson s view

Jonathan A Bush The Supreme Crime and its Origins The

Lost Legislative History of the Crime of Aggressive War ColumbiaLaw Review v 102 No 8 Dec 2002 p 2369

100pening Statement for the United States Nov 21 1945 The

Nuernberg Case as Presented by Robert H Jackson Chief of Counelfor the United States New York Cooper Square Publishers 1971

p 93

11Telford Taylor Nuremberg and Vietnam An American TragedyNew York Bantam Books 1971 pp 11 12 Taylor went on to say

However history may ultimately assess the wisdom or

unwisdom of the war crimes trials one thing is indisputableAt their conclusion the United States government stood

legally politically and morally committed to the principlesenunciated in the charters and judgments of the tribunals

Taylor shows that the President of the United States thirtyor more American judges who took part in the tribunals

General Douglas MacArthur and the United States delegationto the United Nations general assembly all squarely endorsed

11

Ii

To the same effect an important modification of the

language of the Charter by Law No 10 was that the latter dropped

phraseology limiting the jurisdiction of the tribunals to persons

acting in the interests of the European Axis countries making

way for expansion of the Nuremburg Principles beyond the

immediate prosecution of agents of the defeated European powers

As Taylor wrote Nuremburg is a historical and moral fact with

which from now on every government must reckon in its internal

and external policies alike Recalling the declaration of the

Tribunal regarding the impartial application of its principles to

all Taylor wrote

We may not in justice apply to these defendants because

they are Germans standards of duty and responsibility whichare not equally applicable to the officials of the AlliedPowers and to those of all nations 12

And on the last page of his book on Nuremberg published

shortly before his death Taylor once again affirmed what he

the Nuremberg principles in one way or anotherThus the integrity of the nation is staked on those

principles and today the question is how they apply to theconduct of our war in Vietnam and whether the United StatesGovernment is prepared to face the consequences of their

applicationT he Son My My Lai courts martial are shaping

the question for us and they can not be fairly determinedwithout full inquiry into the higher responsibilitiesLittle as the leaders of the Army seem to realize it this isthe only road to the Army s salvation for its moral healthwill not be recovered until its leaders are willing toscrutinize their behavior by the same standard that theirrevered predecessors applied to Tomayuki Yamashita 25 yearsago

Id pp 94 182

12Taylor Final Report pp 234 235

12

obviously considered to be the heart of the Nuremberg

proceedings Reflecting on the growing demand in the 1990s for

the establishment of a permanent tribunal for the trial of

international crimes Taylor recalled

that the Nuremberg Tribunal had jurisdiction only over the

major war criminals of the European Axis countries

Considering the times and circumstances of its creation it

is hardly surprising that the Tribunal was givenjurisdiction over the vanquished but not the victors Manytimes I have heard Germans and others complain that onlythe losers get tried

Taylor continued

Early in the Korean War when General DouglasMacArthur s forces landed at Inchon the American and SouthKorean armies drove the Koreans all the way north to the

border between North Korea and China at the Yalu River

About a week later the Chinese attacked in force and their

opponents were driven deep into South Korea

During the brief period when our final victory appearedin hand I received several telephone calls from members of

the press asking whether the United States would try suspectNorth Koreans as war criminals I was quite unable to

predict whether or not such trials would be undertaken but

I replied that if they were to take place the tribunal

should be established on a neutral base preferably by the

United Nations and given jurisdiction to hear charges not

only against North Koreans but South Koreans and Americans

or any other participants as well

And Taylor concluded

I am still of that opinion The laws of war do not

apply only to the suspected criminals of vanquished nations

There is no more or legal basis for immunizing victorious

nations from scrutiny The laws of war are not a one waystreet

13

13Taylor Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials p 641 The

principal author of this pleading although a vigorous opponent of

the Vietnam War took a similar position in declining to take partin the War Crimes Tribunal created by Lord Bertrand Russell See

Bush The Supreme Crime p 2393 n 224 citing StaughtonLynd The War Crimes Tribunal A Dissent Liberation v 12

Dec 1967 Jan 1968 p 76

13

It is crystal clear that after the Nuremberg trials the

United States was committed to having its own conduct judged

according to the principles of international law applied in those

proceedings

14

C International Law takes Precedence over National Law

Expansion and clarification of the Nuremburg Principles was

carried forward by the U N International Law Commission in 1950

when it adopted and codified them in broad application to

international law drawing in some cases on the judgments of the

Tribunal

Here the Commission highlighted at the outset the principle

that international law may impose duties on individuals directly

without any interposition of internal law and as a corollary

that individuals are not relieved of responsibility under

international law by the fact that their acts are not held to be

crimes under the law of any particular country The Commission

went on to point out that this implies what is commonly called

the supremacy of international law over national law and to

cite the declaration of the IMT that

the very essence of the Charter is that individuals haveinternational duties which transcend the national

obligations of obedience imposed by the individual State14

Article 8 was revised by the International Law Commission to

read

The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of hisGovernment or of a superior does not relieve him from

responsibility under international law provided a moralchoice was in fact possible to him IS

I4Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of

the Nuremburg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal

adopted by the U N International Law Commission 2 August 1950U N Doc A 1316 2 Y B I L C 374 1950 Principle I par 99

Principle II par 100 102 See also TMWC v XXII pp 465466

lSId Principle IV

15

In this formulation the provision of Article 8 allowing

mitigation of punishment was dropped on the ground that the

question of mitigating punishment is a matter for the competent

court to decide rather than a matter of general principle16

At the same time the provision concerning moral choice was

added based upon the following declaration of the judgment

The provisions of this article are in conformity withthe law of all nations That a soldier was ordered to kill

or torture in violation of the international law of war hasnever been recognized as a defense to such acts of

brutality The true test which is found in varyingdegrees in the criminal law of most nations is not theexistence of the order but whether moral choice was in fact

possible17

The question was and is how is an ordinary soldier on the

battlefield supposed to act on these understandings

III THE NUREMBURG PRECEDENT IN UNITED STATES COURTS ANDMILITARY TRIBUNALS

During and after the Vietnam war United States courts and

military tribunals were asked to apply the Nuremberg Principles

to the conduct of individual soldiers The civilian judicial

system washed its hands of the issue and to use another Biblical

metaphor passed by on the other side Military tribunals were

far more forthright than their civilian counterparts in facing

the problem but did not succeed in resolving the dilemma


16Id Principle IV par 106

17Id 105par See also TMWC v XXII p 466

16

David Mitchell was not a pacifist and could not have

qualified for Conscientious Objector status In the summer of

1961 he writes I was involved in swimming out to protest

against and symbolically block the launching and deployment of a

nuclear armed Polaris submarine I was jailed and after being

released from jail in New London Connecticut I found

classification forms from the draft board awaiting me18

He

informed his draft board that he would refuse to cooperate with

conscription

Awaiting a response from the Selective Service system

Mitchell became aware of Fyke Farmer a Tennessee attorney who

had refused to pay taxes during the Korean war Farmer Mitchell

states had been the first to invoke the principles of Nuremburg

Law In doing so he sought not just exemption from a war he

considered immoral but a condemnation of that wrong itself

As Mitchell informed his draft board I certainly wouldn t have

worked in a Nazi concentration camp just because I would not have

to tend the ovens or the gas but could be a guard or clerk19

Mitchell surrendered to the FBI in June 1965 At trial he

raised the issue

whether a draftee ordered to report for induction in the

armed forces of the United States may lawfully refuse to

obey the order on the grounds that the government is engagedin the commission of crimes against peace war crimes and

crimes against humanity as defined by international law

l8We Won t Go Personal Accounts of War Objectors collected byAlice Lynd Boston Beacon Press 1968 pp 93 94

19Id 94 97pp

17

II

recognized by the Charter and Judgment of the NurembergTribunal

Fyke Farmer became Mitchell s counsel on appeal The Court of

Appeals reversed his first conviction stressing that Mitchell s

refusal to comply with Selective Service requirements was not

because he was a pacifist but because if he submitted to the

draft the Nuremberg Law would render him guilty of complicity

in crimes defined by the Charter of the International Military

Tribunal 20

Mitchell was again found guilty in district court and

sentenced to five years in prison This time the Court of

Appeals affirmed and the Supreme Court of the United States

denied certiorari Justice William Douglas dissented from the

denial of certiorari He stated in part that petitioner s

defense was that the war in Vietnam was being conducted in

violation of various treaties to which we were a signatoryespecially the Treaty of London of August 8 1945 59 Stat

1544 which in Article 6 a declares that waging of a war

of aggression is a crime against peace imposingindividual responsibility Article 8 provides The fact

that the Defendant acted pursuant to order of his Government

or of a superior shall not free him from responsibility but

may be considered in mitigation of punishmentMr Justice Jackson the United States

prosecutor at Nuremberg stated If certain acts in

violation of treaties are crimes they are crimes whether

the United States does them or Germany does them and we are

not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct againstothers which we would not be willing to have invoked againstus International Conference on Military Trials DeptState Pub No 3880 p 330

Article VI cl 2 of the Constitution states that

treaties are a part of the supreme law of the land and

the Judges in every State shall be bound therebyThere is a considerable body of opinion that our

20Id 99 102pp

18

actions in Vietnam constitute the waging of an aggressivewar

This case presents the questions1 whether the Treaty of London is a treaty within the

meaning of Article VI cl 2

2 whether the question of the waging of an aggressivewar is in the context of this criminal prosecution a

justiciable question3 whether the Vietnam episode is a war in the sense

of the Treaty4 whether petitioner has standing to raise the

question5 whether if he has it may be tendered as a defense

in this criminal case or in amelioration of the punishmentThese are extremely sensitive and delicate questions

But they should I think be answered 21

In Mora et al v McNamara et al three young men already

drafted into military service Dennis Mora James Johnson and

David Samas refused to deploy to Vietnam They offered

essentially the same defense as had David Mitchell adding the

provisions of the US Army Field Manual The Law of Land Warfare

FM 27 10 1956 This time two justices of the United States

Supreme Court Justices Douglas and Potter Stewart dissented

from denial of certiorari 22

B Howard Levy

Captain Howard B Levy M D also a draftee refused to

teach medicine to Green Beret soldiers at Fort Jackson South

Carolina His case reached the Supreme Court of the United

States In Parker v Levy 417 U S 733 1974 the high court

reversed a decision of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals which

21Douglas J dissenting in Mitchell v United States 386

U S 972 1967 quoted in We Won t Go ed Alice Lynd pp 102

04

22Id 182 84pp

19

had held that Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of

Military Justice were unconstitutionally vague and overbroad

The Supreme Court upheld the validity of the UCMJ and of Levy s

court martial conviction Justice Stewart angrily read his

dissenting opinion from the bench

Whereas the Supreme Court focused on First Amendment

doctrine in relation to the UCMJ the court martial gave much

more attention to Vietnam And in the course of a ruling on

other matters Colonel Earl Brown the law officer suddenly

injected the possibility of a defense based on Nuremberg

Now the defense has intimated that special forces

aidmen are being used in Vietnam in a way contrary to

medical ethics My research on the subject discloses that

perhaps the Nuremberg Trials and the various post war

treaties of the United States have evolved a rule that a

soldier must disobey an order demanding that he commit war

crimes or genocide or something to that nature HoweverI have heard no evidence that even remotely suggests that

the special forces of the United States Army have been

trained to commit war crimes and until I do I must rejectthis defense 23

In colloquy with the prosecutor that followed Colonel Brown

stated that if the aidmen were being trained to commit war

crimes then I think a doctor would be morally bound to refuse

to train them 24

23Tr at 875 quoted in Robert N Strassfeld The Vietnam War

on Trial The Court Martial of Dr Howard B Levy 1994 Wisconsin

Law Review 839 902

24Tr at 878 quoted in id p 903 According to Professor

Strassfeld Colonel Brown had often discussed the implications of

the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes trials as a law instructor at

West Point in the late 1940s and had been deeply impressed by the

movie Judgment at Nuremberg

20

II

Counsel for Dr Levy were given one extra day to assemble

witnesses to put on a Nuremberg defense The defense found three

witnesses Donald Duncan was a former Special Forces Sergeant

who became disaffected while serving in Vietnam and resigned from

the Army Robin Moore was the author of a bestselling book The

Green Berets Captain Peter Bourne was an Army psychiatrist who

had served in Vietnam The defense also proffered as exhibits

4 000 articles describing war crimes in Vietnam including war

crimes by the Special Forces and a brief by Professor Richard

Falk an international law expert at Princeton assisted by

Richard Barnet of the Institute for Policy Studies Finally the

defense submitted a list of thirty eight witnesses to be called

should Col Brown determine that a prima facie case of Nuremberg

violations had been made out 25

An out of court hearing followed The Law of Land Warfare

prohibits assassination of enemy soldiers or civilians Duncan

and Moore described assassination by United States forces and by

the Vietnamese personnel that they trained The Law of Land

Warfare prohibits putting a price on an enemy s head but

Duncan and Moore testified that in Vietnam it was a common

practice Most riveting it seems was defense testimony about

torture and murder of unarmed prisoners although The Law of Land

Warfare prohibits killing prisoners even in the case of

25Id 905 08pp

21

commando operations26

Assessing the Nuremberg defense presented by Dr Levy s

counsel Professor Strassfeld comments

It could have been argued that the Geneva Conventions were

largely inapplicable to South Vietnam and U S conduct in

South Vietnam especially as it affected civilians

However the U S did not adopt that position Applicationof the Nuremberg principles to Levy would arguably extend

them beyond existing precedents because of his attenuated

relationship to Special Forces conduct in Vietnam

Instead of grounding the denial of the defense in one of these

arguments Brown simply ruled that Levy had failed to make a

prima facie showing 27

C After Vietnam

The evasion of Nuremberg by the United States Supreme Court

in the Mitchell Mora and Levy cases continues to cast a long

shadow Military tribunals quote and rely on the high court s

pronouncement in Parker v Levy that the military is by

necessity a specialized society and hence the fundamental

necessity for obedience and the consequent necessity for

imposition of discipline may render permissible within the

military that which would be constitutionally impermissible

outside it 28

Under Levy and the military manuals that reflect it a

military order is presumed to be lawful and is disobeyed at the

26Id pp 908 15

27Id pp 922 23

28United States v Moore 58 M J 466 2003 CAAF LEXIS 694

2003 quoting Parker v Levy 417 U S 733 743 758 1974

22

subordinate s peril To be sure the order must not conflict

with the statutory or constitutional rights of the person

receiving the order 29But what if the order conflicts with the

principles not yet fully incorporated in statute or Supreme

Court precedent 30on which the United States relied to execute

German and Japanese war criminals

A related issue is the responsibility of staff officers for

war crimes by their subordinates William Calley was a platoon

leader Lt Watada holds a similar position After My Lai

Calley was convicted but his Brigade Commander and Company

Commander were acquitted even though according to Calley s

testimony Capt Medina s initial briefing for the mission

ordered the troops to kill every living thing men women

29Id citing Manual for Courts Martial United States 2002

ed Part IV para 14 c 2 a i and United States v Womack

29 M J 88 90 C M A 1989

30Recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court exhibit

an increased receptivity to precedents established byinternational law or the law of nations In the majoritydecision about the rights of prisoners at the Guantanamo detention

facility the justices turned historian and cited such precedentsas the case in which Lord Mansfield set free an African slave

purchased in Virginia bound for Jamaica but temporarily detained

on a ship docked in England Somersett v Stewart 20 How St

Tr 1 79 82 K B 1772 cited in Rasul et al v Bush et al

No 03 334 June 28 2004 Slip Opinion at 13 n 11 In another

decision about a Mexican doctor kidnapped by drug enforcement

agents the Court continued to probe the ambient law of the

Revolutionary era concluding that courts of that period were opento claims based on the law of nations and that a court todayshould likewise entertain a claim that rests on a norm of

international character accepted by the civilized world Sosa v

Alvarez Machain et al No 03 339 June 29 2004 Slip Opinionat 17 19 30

23

children and animals 31 An investigative team headed by Lt

Gen William Peers recommended that charges be preferred against

the division chief of staff the brigade operations officer the

task force operations and intelligence officers and the division

chaplain but nothing was done about it32

An intrepid Lieutenant Colonel writing in the Military

Review has discussed the bombing of Dresden and the My Lai

massacre in the light of Nuremberg Michael Davidson states

flatly citing US Army Field Manual The Law of Land Warfare FM

27 10 1956

The legal precedents established at Nuremberg constitute

international law and as such are part of US law

Accordingly the war crimes trials define standards of

wartime conduct for US military personnel and for enemy

soldiers charged with war crimes by an international

tribunal or by a US military tribunal or courts martial33

One might wish it to be so but this is not quite what The

Law of Land Warfare amounts to The introduction to FM 27 10

lists more than a dozen treaties relating to the conduct of land

warfare which have been ratified by the United States The list

includes six Geneva Conventions and six Hague Conventions but

there is not one word about Nuremberg34

31U S v Calley 48 C M R 19 23 24 1974

32Lt Col Michael Davidson Staff Officer Responsibility for

War Crimes Military Review Mar Apr 2001 p 54

33Id p 55 citing Taylor Nuremberg and Vietnam p 143 and

US Army Field Manual The Law of Land Warfare Washington DC US

Government Printing Office 1956 pp 180 81

34Nicholas Turse a major contributor to this submission

writes In the introduction to FM 27 10 there is a reference to

24

In its Provision 509 part of a chapter on Remedies for

Violation of International Law War Crimes The Law of Land

Warfare attempts to confront the Nuremberg Principles but

without referring to Nuremberg The text reads

509 Defense of Superior Orders

a The fact that a law of war has been violated pursuant to

an order of a superior authority whether military or civil

does not deprive the act in question of its character of a

war crime nor does it constitute a defense in a trial of an

accused individual unless he did not know and could not

reasonably have been expected to know that the act ordered

was unlawful 35

Likewise the Manual for Courts Martial provides that a patently

illegal order does not enjoy the presumption of legality But

what is a patently illegal order The definition one that

directs the commission of a crime set forth in The Law of Land

Warfare is not particularly helpful No list is provided in

either guidebook 36

TM 27 251 This document is a 300 plus page Army pamphlet27 1 titled Treaties Governin Land Warfare This entire document

can be found at http www usapa army mil pdffilesl p27 5F1 pdfSearching the index I found no reference to Nuremberg

35FM 27 10 p 182 Malham M Wakin Applying NurembergPrinciples to Limited War United States Air Force AcademyJournal of Legal Studies v 6 1996 p 169 comments that this

provision seems to have caught the spirit of the Nurembergprinciples in balanced fashion While this may be so in the

abstract Provision 509 does not give sufficient guidance to helpthe Sergeant Bendermans of this world decide how to act

36Id p 58 citing Manual for Courts Martial United States

MCM Washington DC Government Printing Office 1998 para14c 2 a i and FM 27 10 p 182 A massive article by Mark

Osiel describes the legal uncertainty that exists concerningwhat military activity is manifestly unlawful Mark J Osiel

Obeying Orders Atrocity Military Discipline and the Law of

War 86 California Law Review 1998 939 978 1020 Osiel

25

H

During the Vietnam war a platoon leader ordered a soldier

under his command to execute a detainee The soldier testified

at his court martial that he heard the company commander order

the platoon leader to kill the detainee and that a previous

platoon leader had been relieved of his command when a detainee

escaped The military appeals court found that the platoon

leader s order was palpably illegal and patently wrong and

upheld Staff Sergeant Griffen s conviction for murder37

On the other hand also in Vietnam Lt James Duffy leading

a patrol composed mainly of draftees entered a village took a

prisoner and asked his men if anyone would like to execute the

prisoner The victim was shot in the head the next morning by an

executioner chosen by Duffy from among several volunteers At

trial four lieutenants testified that their orders were to take

no prisoners and that their superiors laid primary stress on

the body count The court having convicted the lieutenant of

murder revoked its judgment reduced it to involuntary

manslaughter and sentenced Duffy to six months confinement38

This is decision making on the basis of I know a war

concludes that the three traditional indicia of manifest

illegality are 1 moral gravity 2 clarity and 3 proceduralirregularity but that these criteria bear no necessary relation

to one another and so not surprisingly are regularly at odds in

concrete cases 1d at 1020

371d p 59 citing United States v Griffen 39 C M R 586

1968 at 588 590

38Taylor Nuremberg and Vietnam pp 150 51 basing his account

on reporting between March 28 and AprilS 1970 by New York Times

reporter Philip Shabecoff

26

Ii

crime when I see it It is essentially standardless and

subjective Indeed it hardly advances beyond the statement of

Roger Taney Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in

the era of the Civil War I t can never be maintained that a

military officer can justify himself for doing an unlawful act

by producing the order of his superior The order may palliate

but it cannot justify39

Lt Watada has been obliged to try to find his way by this

uncertain compass

IV CONCLUSION

Beyond Lt Watada s individual predicament how does the

United States military propose to regard the next soldier who

comes to the conviction that the fighting in which he is engaged

is illegal Will he be required to oppose war in any form

before he is excused from obedience to particular orders that he

believes to be criminal Or to pose the problem more abstractly

how can the Nuremberg Principles that the United States professes

to honor be incorporated in existing law

Professor Donald A Peppers has made a case for recognition

on the basis of Nuremberg of what he calls selective

39Steven Fogelson Note The Nuremberg Legacy An UnfulfilledPromise Southern California Law Review v 63 March 1990 text

at n 233 Taney made his comment in Mitchell v Harmony 13 U S

1 How 115 137 1851 The author states that the prosecutionof Henry Wirz the Confederate commandant of the prisoner of war

camp at Andersonville proceeded along these lines Although Wirz

produced evidence at trial that he followed the orders of his

superior General John H Winder he was found guilty of murder

in violation of the laws and customs of war

27

Ii

nonconscientious objection4o He argues that for practical

purposes the war crimes of most consequence for the individual

soldier are those described in the Nuremberg Charter as war

crimes and crimes against humanity which at trial were almost

always merged 41He indicates that these offenses fall into

three groups crimes relative to prisoners of war crimes

relating to civilian populations and crimes involving

impermissible weapons or tactics of warfare 42 But he readily

concedes that specific definition of crimes in these three areas

has been swiftly deteriorating because of changes in the nature

of war itself because of a rapid growth of guerilla and

terrorist activity because of what Richard Falk terms the

undetermined status of certain territorial entities and the

effect of contradictory acts of recognition and because of the

horrifying possibilities of an unintended escalation of a limited

conflict 43

Given this uncertainty in the definition of war crimes

Peppers argues that the more indeterminate and cloudy the

definitions of war crimes under international law the stronger

is an individual s right not to be placed in a situation where

4oDonald A Peppers War Crimes and Induction A Case for

Selective Nonconscientious Objection Philosophy and Public

Affairs v 3 no 2 Winter 1974 pp 129 66

41Id pp 133 35

42Id pp 135 38

43Id p 163

28

Ii

he must choose whether or not to engage in particular actions

A s the definitions of criminal acts in war become

increasingly less sharp the point in the process of beingcompelled or ordered at which the individual has the rightto protest legitimately becomes progressively farther

removed from the final order actually to commit criminalacts In effect when the choice a person is forced to make

becomes more difficult because the definition of the crime

in question is unclear or because it is unclear whether the

act is still or yet considered a crime at all then the

obligation of the state not to place a citizen in that

position becomes that much stronger44

On one point the evolution of United States military

doctrine since Peppers wrote in 1974 may call for an extension of

his argument

Peppers reports that at Nuremberg only statesmen and the

highest military officers were charged with the crime against

peace of aggressive war The United States has now explicitly

endorsed the doctrine of preemptive war In a speech at the 2002

graduation exercises at West Point President George W Bush

remarked that for much of the last century America s defenses

had relied on the Cold War doctrines of deterrence and

containment But the President argued containment means

nothing against terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to

defend the war with terror will not be won on the defensive

and the United States must be prepared for preemptive action

when necessary45 In September 2002 the Bush Administration

44Id p 162

45http www whitehouse gov news releases 2002 06 20020601

3 html emphasis added

29

Ii

promulgated a new National Security Doctrine which stated in

part that

we will not hesitate to act alone if necessary to exercise

our right of self defense by acting preemptively againstsuch terrorists to prevent them from doing harm against our

people and our country46

This new doctrine would appear expressly to violate the

condemnation of aggressive war on which the United States

insisted at Nuremberg Certainly a conviction that his country

is an aggressor in violation of international law is a part of

Lt Watada s conclusion that what he is being ordered to do is

wrong In his case then and in future cases like his a

potential or actual soldier should be entitled to refuse orders

not only because they require war crimes or crimes against

humanity but also because they demand obedience to a crime

against peace aggressive war

Professor Pepper s critique supports Lt Watada s decision

to protest by refusing to deploy Refusal to fight on Nuremburg

Principles when in the midst of combat and surrounded by fellow

soldiers towards whom one rightly feels responsible is not

practical Yet refusal to fight is precisely what Nuremburg

demands The solution as Pepper indicates is to refuse to

continue to engage in combat at a time and place that do not

immediately endanger others That is what Lt Watada is charged

with doing

46The National Security Strategy of the United States of

America Washington D C Sept 2002 p 5 emphasis added

30

II

For the foregoing reasons among others the charges against

Lt Watada should be dismissed

Respectfully submitted

Staughton Lynd

31

Ii

abc7news com 09 20 2006 10 08 AM

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City Support Expected For Soldier s Iraq Refusal

ffi NEWS

Aug 27 KGO Berkeley s city council is expected to pass a measure in support of an army officer whos refusing to

serve in Iraq

First Lieutenant Ehren Watada faces a possible court marital because of his decision He calls the Iraq war illegalalthough he s offered to serve in Afghanistan instead

His father came to Berkeley to meet with supporters and city officials Saturday

Watada s family stands by his decision even though he could spend seven years in a military prison

Bob Watada Soldier s Father Ifyou look at the uniform code ofmilitary justice it says very clearly that every soldier

has a duty to disobey an unlawful order

Ifthe coundl votes to support Watada the move would fall in line with Berkeley s offidal position to impeach President

Bush because of the war in Iraq

Copyright 2006 ABC7 KGO TV DT

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Today s Headlines

fNASA Clears Shuttle For Landino I 1

t Students Discover Murdered Bodv Near School I D

http abclocal go com kgo story section local id 4501133 Page 3 of 6

II

BPF 1 Statement on Lt Watada Page 1 of 2

9

Statement from the Buddhist Peace FellowshipIn Support of Lt Ehren Watada

August 25 2006

and

What You Can Do to Support Lt Watada

The Buddhist Peace Fellowship BPF founded in 1978 represents more than 4 000 people from manyBuddhist traditions and otherspiritual backgrounds who have deep concern for our world and who aspire tomeet suffering with compassion and wisdom BPF supports the words and actions of Lt Ehren Watada as hefollows his conscience and his heart and refuses to deploy to Iraq We offer Lt Watada our solidarity anddeep gratitude for this act ofcourage

As we and many other Americans have followed the news from Iraq these past three years we believe thatour country s actions and priorities have gone terribly wrong So many peoplecitizens military leaders and

political analysts warned that the Iraq war was built on false premises and that it would serve to deepenresentment and violence both in Iraq and towards the United States This has proven true as more than2 000 U S militaryour brothers sisters and children have been killed there along with untold numbers ofIraqi civilians whose numbers grow daily in the face of a bitter civil war The only benefit of this war has beento the profit line of U S corporations like Halliburton and Bechtel and arms manufacturers like LockheedMartin and General Dynamics

The Buddha oncetaught Hatred is never appeased through hatred Only through love is hatred appeasedThis is an eternal and unvarying law The endless cycle of violence in Iraq is sadly bearing out this truth

In the face of this illegal and immoral war the stand that Lt Watada has taken is truly courageous In fullawareness of the consequences he will face Lt Watada has taken this stand because of his conviction thatothers are being put in harm s way for a war being carried out under false premises by an administration that

continually violates the U S Constitution In the Buddhist tradition it might be said that Lt Watada is a

bodhisattva someone who is deeply concerned about the wellbeing of all people and who puts the welfareof others before his own

We encourage all our members to contribute to support Lt Watada s cause in whatever way they can andwe urge all U S citizens to work together to end this war and bring the troops home

Thank you Lt Watada You speak for us

Buddhist Peace Fellowshipwww bpf orgPO Box 3470

Berkeley CA 94703

What You Can Do to Support Lt Watada

The future of Lt Watada s court martial is now in the hands of the generals at Fort Lewis Phone calls andletters from around the country could make a difference

http wwwbpf orghtml resources and links statements watada html 10 212006

BPF 1 Statement on Lt Watada Page 2 of 2

Fort Lewis Commanding General Lieutenant General James Dubik makes the final decision on whether to

proceed to court martial on any or all charges Please take a moment today to phone and write Lt GenJames Dubik and respectfully request no court martial for Lt Watada

Use your own words but a suggested message would be Along with tens of thousands I support Lt EhrenWatada s right to refuse an illegal war I ask that you not bring court martial proceedings against him If thereis a court martial this fall I look forward to visiting Ft Lewis and letting you know how I feel in person

Lt Gen Dubik can be reached via his aide Lt Colonel Kamper at 253 967 0022 andor call the FtLewisswitchboard at 253 967 1110 Or you can write to him at

Commanding GeneralFort Lewis and I CorpsLt Gen James M Dubik

Building 2025 Stop 1

Fort Lewis WA 98433

When writing please consider a handwritten letter on stationary if available posted via express or prioritymail for additional impact and timely delivery We expect that Lt Gen Dubik will issue his decision nextweek but there is no required timeline Do not delay and take action today The contact address and phonenumbers for Lt Gen Dubik may change overthe course of this action alert so check www ThankYouLt orgfor these and other updates

U 0 It Il J H U IP

http www bpf orghtml resources and links statements watada html 10 2 2006

Debbie ClarkVeterans For PeaceGreaterAtlanta Chapter 125

dclark@antiwar com

770855 6163

June 27 2006

D

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF FIRST UEUTENANT EHREN WATADA

It is my great honor and duty to be here today toshare with others my support for theaction of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada in disobeying an unlawful order to serve in awar that is both immoral and illegal as well as to show my support for all military servicemembers and their families who are now resisting this war

Lt Watada s refusal to obey orders to deploy to Iraq with his unit was not made lightly Itcame about through much soul searching and research that led him to the irreversibleconclusion that to participate in this unlawful war of aggression would make him an

accomplice to a criminal act

Lt Watada is the first commissioned officer to refuse orders to Iraq and is also the firstsoldier to do so who is not a conscientious objector His decision is based on legalgrounds as well as moral with the recognition that a soldier has not only the duty toobey all lawful orders but also has the moral and legal obligation to disobey anyunlawful order

Lt Watada s mother described her son as having an unflinching commitment to his menand to democratic ideals and said that he believes that he can best serve them bytaking a stand against the war

In so doing she said he demonstrates that one does not relinquish the freedom tochoose what is right even in the military and that the freedom to choose what is righttranscends the allegiance to man and institutions

Lt Watada is doing the right thing As a US Army veteran myself of eight years activeduty with five years in the military police and three years as a special agent in the USArmy Criminal Investigation Command as a former soldier who remembers very wellbeing explicitly trained by the Army that it is the duty of a soldier to disobey any unlawfulorder and to comply with the Geneva Convention I honor Lt Watada for the courage tobe true to his conscience and true to his oath of office as a commissioned officer tosupport and defend the Constitution and bear true faith and allegiance to the same

Refusing to participate in an unjust and illegal war is an act of conscience that is also anaffirmation ofthe rule of law No soldier owes absolute allegiance to any military systemThe legal authority of military command is grounded in the rule of law which is based onthe Constitution and the Uniform Code of Military Justice

The Constitution has requirements forwhat branch of government has the power todeclare war and for what purpose which is specified as being for the defense of theUnited States and also makes any treaties adopted by the United States the law of theland

There is a point atwhich one s conscience and understanding of the US Constitutionthe United Nations Charter the Nuremberg Principles and the Geneva Conventions

Debbie ClarkVeterans For Peace

Greater Atlanta Chapter 125

dclark@antiwar com

770855 6163

June 27 2006

requires an individual to make the conscious decision to obey or not to obey what hebelieves to be an unlawful order

With great courage Lt Watada made that decision

There is one veteran who was not able to be here today to show his support for LtWatada but who would have liked to He is a veteran of Operation Desert Shield andDesert Storm now retired US Air Force Major Kelley G Culver ofAugusta Georgia

Major Culver has provided a statement in support of Lt Watada which I will relay on hisbehalf

In 1990 I was commanderof an AirForce Combat Communication Squadron deployedto the Persian Guff for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm At the time ofthedeployment I was opposed to the warbecause it was obvious that the true reason wasnot the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq but the protection ofAmerican oil interests in thePersian Guff

The true purpose ofthis warwas obvious The US had been a supporter ofSaddamHussein s government in the years prior to the war andhad previously turned a blindeye to Hussein s activities Suddenly in 1990 the United States was outraged at hisactions We went to waron a tapestry oflies

The current warin Iraq was also startedon a tapestry oflies Neither the situation in1990 northe situation todayjustifies the loss ofAmerican military men and women

In 1990 I opposed the war in the Persian Gulf but I deployed andserved in spite ofmyobjections My reasons simply put were that I had a career at stake To refuse todeploy would have ended that career I was not willing to pay that price

Today we assemble in support ofLt Ehren Watada who realizing the illegal nature ofthe war in Iraq has chosen to do what I could not do 16 years ago People will call hima coward for his actions but I can assure you this is the action ofa brave man

Today I add mysupport to the cause ofLt Watada and I thank him for taking the standthat I was unable to take myseff Kelley G Culver Major USAF Retired

Military veterans can especially understand how hard of a path it is that Lt Watada hastaken because whether we served in waror during peacetime we know what it means

to live and serve under military authority

However hard it may be to stand up any active duty service member today whoseconscience has been moved by what he or she knows in their heart to be wrong can

also take strength in knowing that the very same military authority that requires them toobey all lawful orders also if it is true to its own code imposes upon them the obligationtodisobey all unlawful orders

A Broken De Humanized Military in Iraq Page 1 of 2

A Broken De Humanized Military in IraqBy Dahr Jamailt rut h 0uti Perspective

Tuesday 26 September 2006

While the deranged chicken hawks who lead the US continue their efforts to wage another unprovoked war of aggressionthis time against Iran what s left of their already overstretched military continues to be bled in Iraq

When the situation is so critical that even the corporate media is forced to report on it you know it s bad Last week on theNBC Nightly News General Barry McCaffrey now retired said of the current state of the US military I think arguably it s theworst readiness condition the US Army has faced since the end of Vietnam This isn t a big surprise when we consider thefacts that many soldiers are already into their third combat tour frequent deployments have cut training time at home in halfand two thirds of all Army combat units are rated not ready for combat

The fact that 60 of National Guard soldiers have already reached their limit for overseas combat is most likely not going toslow down the Cheney administration s lust for more war Most likely they ll just have Rummy change the Pentagon s policythat currently limits Guard combat tours to two out of every five years

This change was apparently already expected by Lieutenant General Steven Blum of the National Guard who told NBC Ifyou thinkthe National Guard s busy today I think we re going to look back and say these were the good old days in aboutthree years A comment to which General McCaffrey responded More is being asked of them particularly the NationalGuard and reserve components than they signed up to do And in the near term we think it s going to unraveL

That near term seemed to be about 72 hours away from McCaffrey s comments On Monday the Army announced thatbecause it is stretched so thin by the occupation of Iraq it is once again extending the combat tours of thousands of soldiersbeyond their promised 12 month tours It s the second time since August Le last month that this has occurred The 1stBrigade Armored Division which is having its tour extended just happens to be located in the province of AI Anbar which themilitary has long since lost control of Between 3 500 and 4 000 soldiers are affected by this decision

The move prompted defense analyst Loren Thompson to tell reporters The Army is coming to the end of its rope in Iraq Itsimply does not have enough active duty military personnel to sustain the current level of effort

There are currently over 142 000 US soldiers in Iraq Just last week General John Abizaid the top US commander in theregion said the military is likely to maintain and possibly even increase its force level in Iraq through next spring

What does this look like for US troops on the ground in Iraq Here is an emaill received just last week from a mother whoseson is serving in the US military in Ramadi

My son cannot bear what he is forced to do and has probably through sheer terror confusion and split seconddecisions killed innocent civilians He is well aware of this and I have witnessed the consequences first handHe probably carries innocent blood on his hands The killing of innocent people is virtually unavoidable He is inAI Anbar region You are the ONLY person in the media who has responded to my emails The other emails Isent to news organizations questioning why so little news out of AI Anbar were unanswered I believe that it isbecause the US has lost that region and is suppressing that news to the American public My son called melast week from Ramadi and said the war is lost they are just going thru the motions again forced to carry outorders and risk their lives for an unobtainable and unjust goal I continue to read your web site as well asothers while I pray for my son s safe homecoming in spring

Her anguish the description of her son s mental state and her son s report of the conditions in Ramadi tragic as they arecome as no surprise At the time of this writing over 2 703 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq and over ten times thatnumber wounded This month over 61 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq With an average of over2 5 killed daily thismonth at the time of this writing it s already the third bloodiest month this year in Iraq for occupation forces

Another report released last weekend from the Veterans Health Administration found that over one third of Iraq andAfghanistan veterans seeking medical treatment are reporting symptoms of stress or other metal disorders This is a tenfoldincrease in the last 18 months alone The dramatic jump in cases is attributed to the fact that more troops are facing multipletours in Iraq and Afghanistan

This is of course complicated by the fact that veterans groups claim that the VA is not able to meet the growing demand forservices Already veterans have had to deal with long waits for doctor appointments oftentimes over six months staffingshortages and lack of equipment at medical centers run by the VA

http www truthoutorgldocs 2006 printec092606A shtml 10 3 2006

ABroken De Humanized Military in Iraq Page 2 of 2

The woman who sent me the email about her son gave me permission to publish another email that shows clearly how theover stretch of the military in Iraq and multiple tours are affecting her son

I have established contact with my son thank God and he writes to me daily about Iraqi atrocities and how hewants to wax them all His morale is low and he has a weak LT who is unable to keep up with the pacerequired I would love to share these emails with you but I am afraid I m afraid of the implications should thisever get out I want to do nothing to endanger my communications with my son My impression through myreadings and contact with soldiers is that the Iraqis are generally good people The American occupationseems to be only making things that much worse for the average Iraqi My impression is that Iraq is a countrywith no hope No matter what is done they will never have a stable government no matter what form it mighttake From my son I m able to glean the complete CHAOS Ramadi is in It is hopeless As a mother I want himto do whatever is necessary to come home and will not sugar coat my thoughts that he should kill everythingand come home Naturally not someone who is obviously an innocent civilian but how do you tell How do youknow who is innocent and who is a threat Therefore he feels that daisy cutting the town is the only option Ofcourse this will not happen and hes blowing smoke However it is an indication of how bad things are therethe struggle between the Marines and the insurgents is never ending The type of bomb now employed by theinsurgents whoever they are is frightening a metal plate on the ground when the Marine steps on it itconnects the circuit and that boy is blown up My son is running missions thru back alleys and is hauling amachine gun that is destroying his back He is a slenderyoung man and the gear he is carrying is affecting hishealth He can run for miles but not with a hundred pounds on him Already I hear such a hardness in hisemails such low morale such hopelessness and he has only just begun this deployment hopefully his lasthis third

America is a great nation compassionate to many and is my homeland I am sickened at what is happeningand what my son is being made to do as a Marine Ultimately we have morphed into an empire It breaks myheart that my son may die on foreign soil fighting a useless war that will only lead to more death anddestruction

The longer the occupation of Iraq continues more death and destruction are two things all of us can count on Along with abroken bleeding military that is being stretched even further each day and the anxious families of those serving whosenerves and hearts are also being stretched further each day

Oahr Jamail is an independent journalist who has reported for the Guardian the Independent and the Sunday Herald Henow writes regularly for Inter Press Service and Truthout He maintains a web site at dahriamailiraq com

http wwwtruthout orgdocs 2006 printec092606A shtml 10 3 2006

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I m concerned about the animals in Ashland A ho are tied up at their homes

for excessive periods They suffer loneliness frustration and boredom

They also run the risk of strangling to death getting abused by kid or

adults getting attacked by animals aT dying of heatstrokei

Jackson County allows animals to be tied for their entire lives an short

chains This is not a life that anyone in Ashland including pets shouldhave to endure Please pass a law to ake this kind of animal abuse

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· mayor and councilors good evening impip cornall from 451 waterline rd inashland and irepresent...

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