Ruminations on Lt. Watada

One of the advantages of blogging is that I don’t bore friends with my tirades. It also lets me speak without worrying whether anyone else in the world agrees with me or not. That is probably going to be the case as I write about Lt. Ehren K. Watada. A lot of folks are outraged by his refusal to go to Iraq, because he believes the war there is immoral.

Milbloggers are livid that he is refusing orders while the lefty anti-war crowd is thrilled that an “officer” is refusing to go and are jumping on his bandwagon for their political purposes. Cindy Sheehan is loving it too, she is finally getting a “refusenik” son she never had.

One of the more reasoned discussions of Lt. Watada’s situation is at Castle Argghhh!!! I pretty much agree with John there that it is going to come down to whether Watada can prove he is disobeying an illegal order. The idea that an order to deploy to Iraq is an illegal order is laughable and guarantees a stint in Leavenworth.

The thing that makes our military such an awesome and motivated fighting force is that everyone of those serving has chosen to serve his country. In a country where freedom and liberty are more than slogans that means that a free men makes a choice to defend his country. In countries where the individual is viewed as state property that is never the case. Serfs were compelled to by their kings over history to fight and die for their country and their kings. That view of man is exactly what our forefathers rebelled against when they wrote, the Declaration of Independence.

That all occurred to me as I read about Lt. Watada on Malkin. I don't know if this is a leftist conspiracy as some suggest, or whether this is a grand scheme by the anti-war scumbags. I have doubts that the lefty’s could plan anything like this. But, I for one don't want this guy in charge of our soldiers, not in Iraq, not anywhere. I don’t want guys who don’t support the mission in charge of those who do. Reluctant leaders are a danger to soldiers. They deserve so much better.

Yet a officer, like any soldier, has a moral duty to refuse orders he believes are illegal. Whether you agree with him or not, it looks like he is doing exactly that. It should also mean that he has the moral courage to do the jail time that will come from his decision.

If it is true that he tried to resign his commission and that was refused one must also question what the rationale for the Army refusal must have been. Do they really want this guy leading real soldiers?

Frankly, I disagree with what Lt. Watada is doing, but would be remiss if I failed to point out that unlike a number of retired general officers, this officer has the moral courage to take a stand a lot of them did not, at least not until their retirement checks were on the way.