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by Aaron Glantz
from IPS News
Watada’s supporters expressed surprise that the military continues its legal crusade. David Mitchell, a lawyer who served time in prison for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War, noted that Lt. Watada has already completed his term of service in the military and could now simply be discharged.
“The longer the military continues this trial, the more publicity Lt. Watada gets,” Mitchell told IPS, “[and] the more information is out there for the public that there are people in the military who challenge the legality and morality of the war.”
Yet despite Watada’s apparent victory, Mitchell is disappointed that other officers have not followed in the lieutenant’s footsteps. Nearly two years after he publicly refused his deployment, Lt. Watada remains the only commissioned officer to refuse to serve.
“The war is incredibly unpopular,” Mitchell said, “but people are frustrated because they don’t think they can do anything about it. You see it in the fact that we don’t really have large demonstrations and you see it in the fact that the amount of military resistance is a lot lower than it was during the Vietnam War.”
[David Mitchel is a State Committeeperson for the Green Party of the New York State. -isw]
How America Lost Iraq by Aaron Glantz was a Pacifica Radio reporter in Iraq who shows how the U.S. squandered its early victories and goodwill among the Iraqi people, and allowed the newly freed society to slip into violence and chaos.
Related Posts:
- Preliminary Injunction in Ehren Watada’s case
- The Nation on Watada
- Watada’s 2nd Court-Martial Stayed by Federal Court
- Federal judge delays Watada trial, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Watada’s second court-martial on hold, Seattle Times
- Watada Update
- ALERT! New trial for Lt. Watada 10/9/07!
- Refiled Vs. Ehren Watada
- Lt. Ehren Watada’s Mistrial
- Rockland Green to attend Watada Court Martial
- What Does It Mean To Support Our Troops?
- The Nation disses War Resisters
- Agustin Aguayo found guilty of desertion
Filed under: activism, Anti-War, News, Political Websites, US Politics Tagged: | Ehren Watada
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