Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 9, 1 September 2006 — Ehren Watada [ARTICLE]

Ehren Watada

In August, KWO printed a eolumn written by Associate Professor Lynette Cruz entitled "Lt. Watada's Stand Is Pono." As a signatory for the page two advertisement in the recent Honoluhi Weekly in support of Lt.

Ehren Watada's singular stand to refuse deployment to Iraq, I appreciate OHA publishing the import of this junior officer's gesture. As MiāWeek columnist Bob Jones states, Lt. Watada has an open and shut case facing him in September. If military justice is similar to that meted out to Capt. James "Yusef ' Yee, of Guantanamo Bay, this officer, under a great deal of personal challenge at this moment, might get less than seven years of prison time. Let us hope for leniency. As stated in the song "A Universal Soldier" by Buffy Saint Marie, the wars of history were fought by the "grunts" and the foot soldiers. As long as most of them give their acquiescence, wars will never cease, and we will never learn how to wage peaee. It takes men of courage, like Muhammed Ali (Vietnam War era) and Lt. Ehren Watada, to challenge our Commander in Chief's justification for going to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now whether to engage Iran, North Korea and other unfriendly nations. Here in Hawai'i, I would like the economy to be less dependent upon the federal government's military spending. There should be less devastating spending that the USA ean do here other than bomb it to pieces in preparation for a future war. A recent test missile sent on its way to Hawai'i by North Korea continues to make this island state vulnerable to "pre-emptive strikes." irvid Tadao Youngquist Spokesman, The Mestizo Association