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IRAQ / THE DEBATE FOR OUR TIMES
Lt. Watada's speech to the Veterans for Peace National Convention, Seattle. August 12, 2006. Photo by Jeff Paterson
It's time, folks ~ the only way the Cheney/Bush administration will take the people seriously is by taking to the streets. We have taken to the Internet and become a powerful force but the debate for our times is clearly Iraq, much like it was Vietnam in the 1960's ~ and the media is still sitting on its hands.
But we now have a face on this debate ~ Lt Ehren Watada who refused to fight an illegal war in Iraq and is about to be court martialed for that decision. He says the war and the occupation violate the Constitution, international law and Army regulations ~ and guess what, he's right.
David Gilmour, United for Peace of Pierce County, frames this debate in his article of August 25th.
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5022/
" Officer Watada saw the Iraq War to be so grossly undertaken, by criminal motives, that life would have no meaning or value if he chose to act in accordance with the government’s malevolent military strategies. This is the philosophical stand Watada has taken that’s recognized as sound, even heroic, by many Americans.
If I thought the Iraq War just, I’d probably never have thought much about Watada’s dilemma. I don’t know why others see Lt. Watada as a hero, "poster boy for the left," but I know intuitively he’s a hero because he’s an individual, courageously taking on an outmoded system of duty and patriotism, willing to suffer for high principles. He is showing us that personal choices have great effect. In our diminished democracy and culture of death, how wonderful it is that someone dares to show a new way to think and act virtuously. This is a debate for our time. "
Want some inspiration ~ This YouTube video shows a 3 minute retrospective of 60's antiwar still photographs that has been viewed more than 6,500 times, rated 5 stars in 46 ratings, and includes a photograph of John Kerry and John Lennon together that very few people have ever seen.
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5023/
Allen L Roland
Catch me on the first and third Monday of every month
7 AM and 4PM PST
TRUTHTALK
on Conscious Talk Radio with Brenda Michaels &
Rob Spears
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