When is refusing to serve cowardice?
When is refusing to serve cowardice?
A lieutenant in Washington State is refusing to report for duty in Iraq. He has made a statement that he has determined the fighting in Iraq to be in violation of War time policy of the military and therefore illegal. He has decided that to engage in the war would make him a war criminal. He faces several possible charges, including Court Marshall, and up to five years in prison.
So, what does society do with an officer that has read his manual of military conduct closely and determined America’s actions in Iraq as violating military code as well as the Geneva Convention? An international court has already declared our president and vice-president war criminals but lack the power to force them into the court room. Are we a country of laws or do certain officials of our government actually “rule
- lloyd's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- 467 reads
Who are the cowards really?
The lieutenant has no legal standing. Once in the military, he is subject to the decisions of his superiors. By refusing an order of those superiors, he is committing insubordination and is subject to all the penalties thereof. The motivation is beside the point.
We the People have the power to read the same codes as this lieutenant, and most of us are not bound by a contract to our armed forces. Have we done so? I doubt it.
We the People would object strenuously to having any of our citizens tried in a foreign court. Authority of a nation over its own is one of the principal attributes of sovereignty. It is for We the People to try our criminals. Including those criminals whom we have elected to serve us. Are we doing so? Hell no. We're watching American Idol. And the NBA.
Who are the cowards really?
Unfortunately, I agree with
Unfortunately, I agree with O'Ceallaigh. The lieutenant is the property of the United States, as if he were nothing more than a tank or a conference table. He can be used and discarded as the government deems necessary.
In the new, revised utopia inside my imagination, where the world is not perfect, but at least the flaws are dealt with fairly and properly, I have hopes that this lieutenant and more soldiers like him will be impetus for getting out of Iraq. I fear that O'Ceallaigh may be right, and the American public may not be motivated enough to care about getting out. But when the soliders stop fighting and the war is happening in our very own towns, then, maybe we can be compelled to give a damn.
(And thanks to you both and this topic, I may be able to break through a bit of writer's block concerning a screenplay I've been working on for two years.)
I'd only come here seeking peace.
I'd only come here seeking me.
It seems I came to leave.
-VNV Nation
Colin Powell was right
Actually, for reasons already stated, I don't think we can or should get out of Iraq. We are there, we started it, we need to finish what we started. As Colin said, "You break it, you fix it." Our best efforts will be needed to fix it. In a decade or so.
What we need to do is face up to the evidence that We the People started this on false pretenses, and that We the People are perpetuating it for improper, even immoral, reasons. We the People need to stop the wrongdoing, analyze and address the reasons for the wrongdoing, remove those responsible for the wrongdoing from positions of power and influence, and resolve - meaningfully - never again to allow greed, laziness, licentiousness, to get us into this kind of a bind again.
The result may well be an America that more closely resembles Puritan Boston than present-day Las Vegas. But then I've already asked if we're willing to pay the wages of peace.
Yes he was.
We should fix what we broke, but I don't see that as a hinderance to getting out. But I don't see getting out as a quick "See ya later." Reducing troops instead of sending thousands more, rebuilding in select areas with an eye towards stepping up the rebuilding efforts, and reparations are the first steps in getting out.
For there to be peace, there must be acts of peace. Sending 1500 more troops within about 2 weeks is not an act of peace. I am wary of arguments that there is still a lot of fighting, so it makes no sense to reduce the troops. I believe that oversimplifies it greatly.
And for the wages of peace, the only thing the American public is going to understand is a 50% tax rate. You want war? Fine. You pay for it. Literally. I don't think that even mandatory military service would make people pause so much.
I'd only come here seeking peace.
I'd only come here seeking me.
It seems I came to leave.
-VNV Nation
Check out the Popular Content board
... this post excepted. Really tells us all we need to know.
Crap. You mean I could get
Crap. You mean I could get a few hundred a day from Google just for being a beautiful person or talking about the beautiful people?? Why have I been wasting my time talking about something of substance?!? I feel an experiment coming on.
I'd only come here seeking peace.
I'd only come here seeking me.
It seems I came to leave.
-VNV Nation
Roger Waters was right
He of Pink Floyd.
Welcome to the machine ...
Ah, but we spoke before of
Ah, but we spoke before of real worlds, and those we just visit. My real world involves watching all of the insipid television shows you can, out of fear that if you don't, there might not be anything to discuss over Thanksgiving dinner. I went to lunch with my mom a few days ago. One of the first questions out of her mouth was, "So, did you watch The Apprentice finale?" I said that I forgot it was on, and asked who the final two contestants were. When she told me one of them, I had to ask, 'Was he the British guy?" She said yes and looked slightly baffled that I could forget such an important day in history as the day Donald Trump hired his 7 billionth apprentice. It was the same look she had when she mentioned that she liked "The Allegory of the Cave" by Plato and I replied that I had always loved the Greek writers, but always favored "Antigone" more. It was that same, "Are you related to me by birth, or was there a mixup at the hospital" look.
This is my legacy. A world of television, cheese and crackers, Deal or No Deal, french onion dip, and a massive, lethal heart attack at 54.
So, you see, I was already in the machine.
I'd only come here seeking peace.
I'd only come here seeking me.
It seems I came to leave.
-VNV Nation
well, getting on in life means managing your audience, I guess
... but if I were you, I'd fire your mother.
Maybe that's why I don't get to go to many Thanksgiving dinners.
:)