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"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32
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Author:  Bruce Walker
Bio: Bruce Walker
Date:  June 13, 2006
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Topic category:  Other/General

What to do with Watada

Lieutenant Ehren Watada announced last week - with much fanfare - that he would not serve in Iraq, even though he volunteered to join the Army in March 2003, the same month in which Operation Iraqi Freedom began, presumably because he did not understand that Operation Iraqi Freedom was intended to free Iraq and was instead intended to find weapons of mass destruction.

Lieutenant Ehren Watada announced last week - with much fanfare - that he would not serve in Iraq, even though he volunteered to join the Army in March 2003, the same month in which Operation Iraqi Freedom began, presumably because he did not understand that Operation Iraqi Freedom was intended to free Iraq and was instead intended to find weapons of mass destruction.  Like all Leftists and Sinisterists, President Bush is always confusing them with honesty.  “Operation Iraqi Freedom” confuses only those Sinisterists who worship the Lie (as noted in my new book on Sinisterism.)  It is difficult to imagine a more straightforward name for a military operation. 

What should the American military do with this publicity hound who did not even take conscientious objector status to avoid combat duty in Iraq?  A court martial is probably what he wants (followed by a run for political office, a book deal, a few interviews by fawning Leftists pundits, a part in the latest treasonous film from Hollywood – all the goodies which people who proclaim that oxymoronic title “principled liberal” can provide.)

How about this?  Order him to go to Iraq and assign him the task of building schools and water treatment facilities, repairing roads and digging irrigation canals and any other work that is not connected at all with fighting the war, but is rather connected immediately with improving the lot of the average Iraqi?  Have him work in the hot sun with his fellow soldiers, share the same chow, live in the same uncomfortable housing, endure the same dangers from terrorists, but have him ordered not to fight, but rather to build.  Or assign him to work as an orderly in a hospital in Iraq that treats only Iraqi civilians.

Even if he feels that the war has been a disaster for the Iraqi people, he cannot complain about helping to rebuild Iraq and improving the lives of Iraqi children?  Indeed, if he feels that the Iraqi war was immoral, and he is taking his half-baked “moral stand” on the grounds that as an American he cannot participate in it anymore, then he has a greater moral duty to help rebuild Iraq, because as an American (again, according to his half-baked pseudo-conscience) he is partially responsible for the war.  Beyond that, as someone who volunteered for military service at the time the war began and whose actions help support the American military generally, he has a greater duty than the average citizen to help empty bed pans and build schools in Iraq.

What could he say in response?  Nothing that sounded halfway moral or peace-loving or noble.  The Army, if he refuses even to do solely constructive and peaceful work directly helping the Iraqi people about whom safely in America he expresses such concern, then the Army should demote him to a private, deploy him (forcibly, if need be) to Iraq, and compel him to do the same duties as before, only without the rank and privileges that he would have had as an officer. 

Let Private Watada see as an enlisted man what Lieutenant Watada would not have seen as an officer in Iraq.  Let him sweat in the summer sun of Iraq beside men who honored the duty that they voluntarily undertook when they enlisted, absent the advantages that Watada has an officer and a gentleman.  Let him hear their stories about the war in Iraq, their murdered buddies, the grateful Iraqi people, and all the horrors of the Baathist rule.

Let him – let any critics of the war – volunteer for military service and guarantee them that the only work they will have to do will be to build hospitals, schools, water systems, and the like.  Create a special unit within the Army for people who only want to help the Iraqi people without any destruction or killing at all.  Ensure these critics do no harm by sending them to Iraq unarmed. 

Promise all these critics all the “perks” that our men and women in Iraq receive – scorching sun, primitive living conditions, separation from home, excellent cuisine and that fabulous military pay.  See how many who profess concern for the Iraqi people really want to roll up their sleeves instead of helping carping safely from their air conditioned home, and then see how many are just gutless wonders who want to enjoy the blessings of liberty and the prosperity of America without even giving those who give us those gifts a polite word of gratitude. 

Bruce Walker

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Biography - Bruce Walker

Bruce Walker has been a published author in print and in electronic media since 1990. He is a regular contributor to WebCommentary, Conservative Truth, American Daily, Enter Stage Right, Intellectual Conservative, NewsByUs and MenŐs News Daily. His first book, Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie by Outskirts Press was published in January 2006.


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Copyright © 2006 by Bruce Walker
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