Do you thing Lt. Watada is doing a morally correct thing?

Question

He claims that the US Govt. is breaching it's own constitution by going to war based on lies and led it's people to believe that Iraq had nuclear weapons. He further stated that participating in the war would mean that he is taking par in a war crime.

Answer 1

I think that if this is what he believes in, then this is what he should be doing.
Some of the answers you got said that he should not have joined the army if he wasn't going to follow orders. I disagree. One of the great things about living in a democracy is that you can express your own opinion. Even if you are a soldier. Even tho he did give up his freedoms by joining the army, he still can question the army and the commander in chief, and will be tried fairly, and his opinions will be taken into consideration.
Democracy is made of all kinds of people. Not only people who follow orders blindly, but also people who question if we're going in the right direction. It just takes one person to make a change. And this is why this country is so great.

Answer 2

It's the common cry of cowards. He's just afraid that he is going to have to do the thing that every member of the military knows they might have to do before they join.

When you voluntarily join the military, you have to expect that someday, you might get called upon to go to war. You aren't supposed to pick and choose which wars you want to fight. You aren't supposed to decide whether to follow orders. According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he is disobeying a lawful order.

I was in the active duty Navy. When I joined, I knew that I was joining an organization that one day may be called to fight in a war. And sure enough, I found myself in Bosnia. Alot of people thought we had no business over there either. But I was there. I saw entire villages and even cities proclaiming the UN troops as their saviors. The same thing happens in Iraq. But the media doesn't show that. It's not news.

The most vocal people against the war, or any war, are almost exclusively people who have never been in the military and/or have never been to the areas they think our troops don't belong. So when some coward in the military refuses to do what he swore an oath to do, those in ignorance grab hold of them in an effort to validate their point.

Guess what, in war, people die. Civilians get killed. Our troops get killed. It's called war. And if Lt. Watada is too cowardly to do what he is being ordered to do, then he never should have joined the freaking military.

Oh, and to Brand_new_monkey, when you join the military, you are made aware that you now must follow not only the Constitution but a whole new set of rules under the UCMJ. You are not a civilian. You have more restrictions than a civilian. The saying that you "are there to defend democracy, not practice it" is very true.

Answer 3

In joining the service you give up many of the freedoms and rights that you swear to protect. I do not agree with the war, but as of right now the president is operating with congressional approval. That is within the law. Therefore, at least in my opinion the order to deploy to Iraq is a lawful order and not one that can be refused. The Lt. took and oath and breaking that oath is not moral. He needs to show that his orders are not lawful and I'm just not sure he has a case there.

Answer 4

No. First, because he's wrong - nobody lied and it isn't a war crime. Second, because he joined after the war was already going on. So, he's either an idiot or a coward. And he has violated the basic rule of the military - not following a legal order. He's going to prison. What a loser.

Answer 5

NO!!! This individual has no moral objection to war as he is in the army. Having accepted a commision in the army he is required to obey all lawful orders of those above him in the chain of command. No one has presented any legitimate evidence that this war is unlawful. Further, this part of the UCMJ which deals with lawful and unlawful orders does not include refusal to report for duty as a remedy. It applies to particular situations where an order is given to you to commit an illegal act. If you were ordered to murder an unarmed civilian or any other crime such as theft, then you should and must refuse to obey the order. This man refused to report to the theater of operations for his own personal reasons. He has a contract with the army. They fulfilled their part now he wants to renege because he is a coward. So the radical left has a new hero to parade around with Cindy Sheehan. He has his 15 minutes of fame....and a life of shame.

Answer 6

which would u rather: go make sure that they don't have WMD's or wait until they attack us again? And they did find old missiles that they were planning on doing something w/. Then the people asked for our help, and i believe in helping our neighbors when in need, especially when they ask for it. if they didn't have anything to hide, then why are they putting up such a fight? if it were all lies, we would've been out of there sooner. and Bush isn't gonna tell us everything that goes on, because if he's got a lead he's gonna keep quiet so the enemy doesn't find out.

Answer 7

No he is not.

The truth is that he is afraid to deploy because he was caught sleeping with the wife of one of his junior soldiers.

And if the US were breaching the Constitution in this war - there would be no soldiers in Iraq.

The man is nothing more than a coward who is trying to cover himself by using political BS.

Answer 8

He is a fool for joining in the first place. Also, when you join you take an oath, and it doesn't say anything about your opinion of the situation as a criteria for doing your duty. I hope he rots in prison because he is a loser. People like him should be put to death just to make the world a better place.

Answer 9

NO he joined the Army AFTER the war started!

"without moral reservation or purpose of evasion"

Answer 10

He CUT AND RUN, like so many liberal-inspired fruitcakes out of touch with reality and should pay dearly. Court-martial his cowardly ***, throw him in Guantanamo for life, throw away the key and for wasting my tax dollars on his training, allow me to personally visit him and deliver a swift kick in his miserable ***.