When the men and women considered to be the cream of Military Excellence begin to criticize the Bush Reich, we MUST be seriously hooped. Kudos to them for speaking out, likely for many at the risk of their careers.
Blue Ibis
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West Point Graduates Against the War Thank Lt. Ehren Watada
West Point Grads Against The War
Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:57 EST
Dear Lieutenant Ehren Watada:
We are pleased to write to you to express our profound respect and gratitude for your refusal to participate in the illegal war in Iraq. We stand with you regarding the illegality of the orders issued to you and fully support your exercising your conscientious duty to refuse to obey them.
As graduates of the United States Military Academy and former officers in the armed forces of this nation we are enormously encouraged by your example. We too have served our country during war and during peace and we agree with your honorable and courageous decision. Your refusal to fight this illegal war in Iraq has heartened us. It is our hope that your example will encourage others to re-examine their own principles of truth, personal honor and the rule of law that are the founding precepts of our democracy, and act as their consciences dictate as you did.
Instilled by the Cadet Honor System with a fundamental, longstanding respect for truth, we believe that honor is a basic attribute of character, a requisite for leading the men and women of our country. We are appalled by the deceitful behavior of the government of the United States. The lying, evasions and quibbling has demeaned not only those who utter them and the United States of America, but has placed vast numbers of innocent people in deadly peril. We will not serve these lies and deceits, nor should you.
The last article of the Code of Conduct for the American Fighting Man states "I will never forget that I am an American fighting man, responsible for my actions and dedicated to the principles which made my country free." Your decision illustrates the broadness of scope of an officer's responsibility and highlights the difference between an American servicemember and any other. We share your desire to elevate mere obedience to orders to a higher duty, one unequivocally declared at Nuremburg, in the Geneva Convention and by the United Nations Charter.
Like you, we academy graduates swore to support and defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We also swore to bear true faith and allegiance to the same Constitution. The illegal policies of the current administration have resulted in a war catastrophic to our nation's interests: politically, economically, militarily, and morally. We now stand to protect our nation from these deceptions. We seek justice for all victims of this illegal war, both servicemen and servicewomen, and the citizens of Iraq, and we support you in your quest for justice.
To this purpose we invoke the words of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence whereby we too "mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, & our sacred Honor."
With greetings of comradeship and deep respect,
West Point Graduates Against the War
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