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Stumping
for Ehren Bob Watada is the father of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned U.S. military officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq on legal and moral grounds (see last week's Q&A). The lieutenant is now facing charges of contempt towards President Bush, conduct unbecoming an officer and missing movement. The elder Watada will be in Eugene Aug. 29 for a noon rally at the Federal Building and a 7 pm presentation at the First United Methodist Church at 1376 Olive St. For more info on Lt. Watada, visit www.thankyoult.org
Was Ehren always a principled kid? If he felt he was right, he was very adamant about things. The president lied, the president cheated, and those are the things we told our son you cannot do. Have you been subjected to much vitriol from war supporters? Oh yes, of course. People call us names and tell us we ought to leave the country, but you can't expect everybody to be intelligent and informed. Ehren has tremendous support from the public. Is most of Ehren's support from anti-war activists? No; we have a strong cross-section of supporters across the entire spectrum. The Maui Democratic Party, free speech organizations, community and civil rights groups, churches, Muslim organizations and three Methodist bishops are in support. There can be no justification under any religion or philosophy for the murder we're committing in Iraq. Are you against war in general? I'm against war unless somebody starts bombing my home and invading my country. Then I will defend my country, just as the Iraqis are defending theirs. My philosophy is, if man goes to war, then we've failed as a society. We all have to take responsibility for our communities and use diplomacy to work things out. You refused Vietnam War duty and got reassigned to the Peace Corps. I was bitterly opposed to the U.S. invasion of Vietnam. I thought that there was a lot of racism in that war, and I think that's true today with Iraq. Remember, we killed almost three million Vietnamese, maybe more, and anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 Americans were killed, for absolutely no reason other than to satisfy the military-industrial complex. Now, this country has moved right into almost fascism and military dictatorship, and it's incredibly sad. From the start of the Iraq War I felt that the whole notion of going after Saddam Hussein was bogus. Did Ehren feel the same way when he joined the Army in March 2003? He wanted to give the president the benefit of the doubt. He understood my feelings about going to war, but he felt that he wanted to do something to help his country, and I had to let him make his own decision. At that time, remember, we were pursuing al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. How do you feel about the probability that he will serve a prison sentence? My son has said very clearly, "If I have to go to prison for speaking out, speaking the truth, then so be it. But it's the president who violated the law, not me." How do you think history will view your son 20 years from now? I think history will view him as a hero. People come up to me and say his courageous stand is just a shining light. The documentary Sir! No Sir! is about thousands of GIs who finally stood up and said, "Killing the Vietnamese is wrong." When they stopped fighting, the Vietnam War came to an end. I'm hoping that something like that will happen with this war, but we need a lot of public support. Do you think Americans are finally starting to "get it" about the war? Sen. Lieberman lost, and I think that's sending a message that if you're for the war, Americans are not with you. I've heard from polls that anywhere from 65 to 75 percent of registered voters are against the war. With those kinds of numbers, candidates are going to have to wake up to the fact that the American people do not want the occupation of Iraq to continue.
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