What do you think about the Army officer who refused orders to Iraq?

Question

Regardless of your views about the war, you have to admit this guy is a liar and a coward.

He joined the Army in 2003 (so the war didn't come as a surprise--he could have resigned anytime during the last four years), has been happily accepting company grade officer pay, benefits and entitlements for four years, and now the coward refuses to deploy with his unit.

This loser took an oath. Raised his right hand and said: "I Ehren Watada...do accept such appointment and do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God." Not only is he a coward, but he dishonored his oath.

OK, my soapbox is over. What do you think?

kehkohjones: FYI, I'm in Afghanistan. Thanks for your answer.

Answer 1

I agree with you and your words are well put. Regardless of whether we were at war when he joined or not any military personnel knows that the chance for war or "conflict" is high, regardless of who the President is at the time.

God Bless our service men and women who serve!! To the cowards, there is a way to deal with them...

Answer 2

i imagine the "guy" is a coward, a liar, a waste of DNA, and a leftist. even as one dons the uniform, particular rights are positioned on carry. even as i'm no longer so constructive about the can charge concerning defaming the president, he HAS no precise to make your ideas up even if he might want to deploy. His arguiment rests on even if he has the right to refuse an unlawful order, which he almost truly does, yet no one can truly call the sheer act of deployment an unlawful order.

Answer 3

Flat out simple answer DO NOT JOIN THE MILITARY if you don't want to be deployed to combat. I can't get over the number of people that seem to have joined thinking that they can just say " I don't care what oaths I took I'm not going" You should go immediately to jail for it. Yes I support the troops and yes I'm in the process of re-enrolling in the military And I plan on living up to the commitment I'm making .

Answer 4

I agree with you 100%. If he joined before the war started, I would sort of understand, but he knew what he was getting himself into. He's just a coward.

Answer 5

I Agree with the statement. This weasel is a traitor and should be given life in prison and very hard labor for the rest of his life!!

Answer 6

Sounds like we need to out source the Army. IT, manufacturing, tutoring, accounting, medical beatific related work have been out sourced, soon will be wall street research analysts. Why not. Most of the security work in Iraq already out sourced.

Answer 7

I hope he enjoys Kansas, he's going to be spending some time at Ft. Leavenworth.

Answer 8

Courts Martial time. He broke an agreement. If he was in business he would be sued.

Answer 9

You have your question loaded to the point where you are not going to listen to what anyone else says that is contrary to what you WANT to hear!

Look, that's HIS business. It takes a bit of testicular fortitude to say "No, I ain't going to that war." He has his personal convictions and a particular set of morals that differ from yours. NOT everyone who joins the service is made from a cookie cutter.

On the one hand, you might be considered a sheep that will follow orders to your own doom, or to stand by while someone commits an atrocity in front of you... and you'll just look on because that person is wearing the same uniform as yours or waving the American flag? Hey, remember the Nurenberg Trials where those charged with crimes against humanity replied that they were "only following orders"? Well, "following orders" did not get them killed by their superiors... but it got them killed by the noose! Mi Lai ring a bell?

Muhammed Ali was called everything from coward to traitor for refusing to go to a war that today is called everything from stupid to wasteful... but the "establishment," the super rich and powerful were making lots of money off the war efforts... like today, Haliburton and the rest of Cheney's cronies who are shamelessly profiteering (over-charging and over-billing the government), and there is NOT one person in government to oversee or question those ridiculously inflated charges?

Look, YOU believe we went into Afghanistan and Iraq to spread Democracy (gee, that sounds nice) but the truth of the matter is that you were lied to on several accounts, beginning with the supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Oh, and another thing, how come the President's twin tarts ain't in uniform (but are out partying and giving up nooky all over the world, while taxpayers pay for their security and the transportation and meals and hotel stays) or any of Cheney's brood?

Why hasn't the President OR the Vice President attended AT LEAST ONE SOLITARY funeral of the 3,300+ military personnel killed in action? PLEASE tell me how that is just and fair?

PLEASE tell me how Dubya can spend so much more time on vacations than any other President while our boys and girls out dodging bullets? OK?

I disagree with you and I'm wasting my time for answering since you obviously have a pre-conceived and pre-selected response in mind, and you will not pay attention to any reasoning other than that brainwashed mentality of "gung-ho" flag waving Taurus Excresia. Maybe 20 years from now you'll think differently.

NOT one of my friends that died in Nam had open casket funeral services, and the others are either disabled (missing limbs, blind) and all are suffering mental problems to this day and their children are all suffering the effects of Agent Orange. ONLY ONE returned and is today a surgeon who was in the news often until recently, in Bush's administration also until recently.

Oh, I've lost relatives and family in each and every war and conflict since WW I; cowardice doesn't run in my family, but common sense does!

I hear nothing but EXCUSES and total Taurus Excresia from those blowhards who supposedly "support" the war but will NOT join the military and serve in the war... it's so easy to send someone else to do the fighting and dying... but, I say, "Do not send someone else to crap when you have your own ******!"

YOU support the war? Go and fight in it and don't worry about anyone else who doesn't believe in the merits of this contrived war.

I would be in favor of the war if I knew that both Dubya and Cheney's 41 eligible relatives and family were in uniform and fighting in either Afghanistan or Iraq!

EDITED: You volunteered and it was YOUR choice to go. WE cannot pass judgement since we don't know all the facts. We cannot force people to think like us! George Orwell's Doublethink and Thoughtcrime were part of the fiction he wrote about something that is slowly becoming a very real threat...

Whenever someone refuses to think like some of these blowhards here, they are called all sorts of names and are reviled as being cowards and maligned as traitors but why not any of Cheney or Dubya's family and relatives who are NOT defending the war they promote and encourage our kids to go and fight in? I guess that what's good for the goose AINT' good for the proverbial gander, huh?

WHO do you owe your greatest allegiance to, the military service now run by a bunch of sleaszy politicians and their cronies, the super rich and powerful, or to your God and your conscience? Nothing more.

EDITED: "asclepeus1"--- Good for you! I'm going to put a little gold star next to your name and a nice big red check mark... my hero!

Answer 10

i have to agree with you... when you swear in you know what your risks are no questions no further choices.