Watada Receives Additional Charge

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Watada Receives Additional Charge

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Fri, 09/15/2006 - 8:56pm.

Lt. Ehren Watada has received a new and additional Charge of Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer.

...
"It is unknown if the military intends to hold another Article 32 pre-trial hearing to review the new charge, or simply railroad it directly to court martial. A final decision on the forwarding to court-martial on all seven charges now pending against Lt. Watada remains forthcoming from Fort Lewis Commanding General Lt. Gen. James Dubik.
If convicted of all charges, Lt. Watada could now face over eight years in prison, more than six of them for publicly voicing his opposition to what he considers an illegal and immoral war.
...

Link: http://thankyoult.live.radicaldesigns.org/content/view/188/

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Did Saddam Have WMD?

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Fri, 09/15/2006 - 10:10pm.

Top CIA official contradicts Senate Panel Findings...

Senate probes clash over CIA reports on Iraq arms
By David Morgan
Reuters
Friday, September 15, 2006; 6:50 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel has begun an inquiry to determine what a top official in Saddam Hussein's government told the CIA about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in late 2002 as the Bush administration made its case for war.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said in a September 8 report that it launched the investigation after the CIA's former chief of European clandestine operations appeared on the CBS' "60 Minutes" news magazine in April. The official, Tyler Drumheller, told CBS that the Iraqi government source had said Iraq had no active unconventional weapons program.
Drumheller's disclosure contradicted spy agency documents quoting the same Iraqi source as saying Saddam did have such programs, according to an addendum to the Senate report written by three Republican senators including chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas.
"We have differing interpretations, and I think mine's right," Drumheller, who has already testified on the matter before the committee, told Reuters on Friday. Drumheller is preparing to publish a book about his 26-year career that will include material on Iraq and the U.S. war on terrorism.
The Iraqi official, identified by CBS as former Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, also told the CIA that Iraq considered al Qaeda a longtime enemy and had "no past, current or anticipated future contact" with Osama bin Laden, the senators said.
...

link: washingtonpost.com

Interview with Ehren Watada

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sat, 09/16/2006 - 11:32pm.

From The Pacific Citizen via Alternet:

Caroline Aoyagi-Stom goes one on one with Lt. Ehren Watada in this interview. Watada speaks to his experiences as a war refuser and as it relates to being JA (Japanese American.)

Here's a link: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/41090/

I think Watada is going to

Submitted by Mike on Sun, 09/17/2006 - 7:49am.

I think Watada is going to jail/brig and it's the right thing to do in his situation. I wish him well and hope I am wrong. The real criminals who need to go to jail are the Bush/Rumsfeld/Cheney war criminals. I guess they will get to jail as fast as Kissinger, but that doesn't change the fact that they are war criminals. Lots of good folks have been to jail. Lots of bad folks have avoided jail. It's a justice system, it's not necessarily justice.

I'm not sure...

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sun, 09/17/2006 - 5:26pm.

what is going to happen. It's certainly interesting that Lt. Gen. Dubik is taking his sweet time in deciding whether to follow the advice of the prosecutor. I think that they would like to let this whole thing blow over. Best for them would be if it just faded away, and people forgot about it. Because Watada has a valid argument and a valid case for refusing to follow illegal orders. It is his duty, quite literally and legally, to disobey illegal orders.

The war makers do not want that printed in big letters above the fold on the daily broadsheets.

I'll put ten dollars on him

Submitted by Norm on Sun, 09/17/2006 - 5:43pm.

I'll put ten dollars on him going to leavenworth. Anyone else?

Oh yeah, his goose is cooked.

Submitted by OlyCop on Sun, 09/17/2006 - 6:44pm.

But, or should I say Butt, he will have some new friends.

"The strongest reason to retain the right to keep and bear arms is to protect against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson.

You know, it kind of bothers

Submitted by Jade on Sun, 09/17/2006 - 9:13pm.

You know, it kind of bothers me to hear a cop joking about prison rape. As an officer I'm sure you know how real of an issue it is, and it concerns me to hear you talking about it so lightly. It almost sounds kind of sadistic.

Jade

Oh girl, that's nothing, you

Submitted by Norm on Sun, 09/17/2006 - 9:20pm.

Oh girl, that's nothing, you should hang around the correctional officers. Oh, better yet hang around doctors and nurses, talk about sick humor within a job.

I work with corrections

Submitted by Jade on Sun, 09/17/2006 - 10:05pm.

I work with corrections officers, doctors, and nurses on a regular basis.

It is (at best) in bad taste for a corrections officer to joke about prison rape in that sort of way. It is their job to protect the safety of inmates, and uphold the rules of the institution. To joke about this in that sort of way is akin to a doctor joking about molesting a patient. Its really just unprofessional and offensive and shows a real lack of respect for their job.

Jade

Prison rape

Submitted by OlyCop on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 1:02pm.

My comment was as much factual as it was an attempt at humor. Prison rape is one of those facts of life your mom never told you about. It's been around since there were prisons and likely will be around for a long time.

As for my attempt at humor, like Norm said, it's likely many things I find humor in you would not. And in all probability, vice versa.

As for Lt. Watada, I'm hopeful that his time in-custody is uncomfortable for him. I find what he did very distasteful.

"The strongest reason to retain the right to keep and bear arms is to protect against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson.

What Lt. Watada Did

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 1:22pm.

What did Lt. Watada do that you find distasteful?

Ah, rape! Always a great

Submitted by OperaGirl on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 1:51pm.

Ah, rape! Always a great way to get a laugh. Where's the "barfing" smilie when I need one.

Although it's money, it's

Submitted by Norm on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 1:59pm.

Although it's money, it's green and it kinda looks yucky, just have to ignore the dollar signed eyes.

Its true. Rape (whether

Submitted by Jade on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 5:23pm.

Its true. Rape (whether committed by officers or prisoners) is not just a common occurance in prison, its a foundation of the institution itself.

Though I don't appreciate your joke, its certainly not out of the ordinary. You demonstrate what most professionals in the field of criminal justice know- that rape is an unspoken part of sentencing.

There was recently a law passed that attempts to provide some legal protection for prisoners who are raped by corrections officers. Most of the staff at the institution I work at seemed to find it laughable.

Let's be frank, your humor is not just one of someone who is faced with a "sick and twisted reality" in their day-to-day work. If you thought the reality of prison rape was twisted, you wouldn't act so smug about it.

I have worked in high-stress jobs for long enough to know there are different ways to joke about morbidity of it- there are jokes that folks tell to let off steam, and there are jokes that folks tell because they have little empathy left for victims, and little humility about the responsibility their position of authority holds.

Jade

Not smug

Submitted by OlyCop on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 6:29pm.

Nothing I can do about it, and it seems the correctional system has no desire to fix it. But to say it is foundational is a stretch.

Oh, it's twisted. Being done by twisted individuals, one of the reasons they are likely in there, their twisted minds.

Me thinks you are over-reacting, possibly due to some personalization of the issue.

"The strongest reason to retain the right to keep and bear arms is to protect against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson.

When society grants certain

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Mon, 09/18/2006 - 4:50pm.

When society grants certain citizens the power to deal with the dark side of life, we have to expect that the sense of humor is going to reflect their reality.

The reality for law enforcement and medical professionals (along with numerous other professions which deal with situations most of us do not encounter, nevermind on a daily basis) is a sick and twisted world.

We have to expect their humor to reflect as much.

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

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