American Views Abroad

 
Hamburger Abendblatt, one of the city's main newspapers, reports on the court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first officer to refuse to be deployed to Iraq because he believes the war there is illegal. The article takes up almost half of page 6 with a good sized photo plus a drawing of a scene in the courtroom in Fort Lewis, Washington. Er verweigert Marschbefehl in den Irak at www.abendblatt.de/daten/2007/02/07/683973.html.

Making an Example of Ehren Watada by Norman Solomon at www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020607A.shtml.

'The judge in the case against the first US officer court-martialed for refusing to ship out for Iraq barred several experts in international and constitutional law from testifying Monday about the legality of the war, the Associated Press reported.'

Where Checkpoint Charlie used to be in Berlin there is still a large photo of a Soviet soldier and a US soldier, each facing his political-geographical direction, East or West, over the former border crossing. The US soldier's name is prominently positioned on his uniform and the message is perfectly clear. Each and every soldier ultimately takes responsibility and is held accountable for his/her actions. Officers have a higher bar since they give the orders. Continue up the chain of command and the air gets thin as far as taking responsibility and being held accountable. Way up the top there is ducking, denial, distortion of words and facts.
- posted by Gloria @ 5:56 PM