Archive for January, 2007

Lt Watada justly refuses an unjust war

Friday, January 5th, 2007

Letter from Carolyn Ho – mother of Lt Watada

Dear Friends,

On behalf of Lt. Watada and our family, thank you for standing with us during this most difficult time. Because of his refusal to deploy to the illegal and immoral Iraq War, my son now faces a maximum of 6 years in a military prison. The pretrial is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2007. The court martial is calendared for Feb. 5, 2007.

We are just days away from the pretrial and must broaden his support base. Help us mobilize the local, national, and international community through your personal, professional, religious and other networks. Please forward the attached email alert with a brief explanation. Ask people to go to: www.thankyoult.org to learn more about Lt. Watada’s case. On the main menu, supporters can click on SIGN PETITION/GET UPDATES AND ALERTS. They will receive weekly email updates that call for actions in support of Lt. Watada’s stand.

Encourage your contacts to integrate these actions into the anti-war activism they are already doing. Their voices are critical to building an international public opinion campaign that demands justice and no punishment for Lt. Watada. His voice of resistance to this heinous war cannot be silenced!

In Solidarity,

Carolyn Ho (Lt. Watada’s Mother)

* * * * * * * * * *

Lt Watada Action Center

“The war in Iraq is in fact illegal. It is my obligation and my duty to refuse any orders to participate in this war. An order to take part in an illegal war is unlawful in itself. So my obligation is not to follow the order to go to Iraq.” – Lt. Ehren Watada

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

Feb. 5, 2007 – Lt. Watada Military Court Martial

Rally at the gates of Ft. Lewis, Washington or in your local community

5 Actions to Support Lt. Watada

1. Send letters or call Commander Dubik. Urge him to:

  • Dismiss all charges
  • Honor Lt. Watada’s resignation

Lt. General James Dubik
Commanding General Fort Lewis
1 Corps Building 2025 Stop 1
Fort Lewis, WA 98433
Phone 253-967-1110

2. Spread the word about Feb. 5, 2007. Forward this email and post on blogs, MySpace, student, activist, social justice and media websites. Register for campaign updates.

3. Encourage your organization to endorse the National Day of Action and mobilize on Feb. 5, 2007. Please specify national, state, city, chapter/local, and contact person, and send to action@ltwatada.org.

4. Organize a student walkout, rally or vigil on Feb. 5, 2007. Tell us about your action so we can include your event on our website.

5. Donate online to Lt. Watada’s Defense Fund.

website: www.thankyoult.org

Mark Your Calendars

Thurs. Jan 4, 2007
Pre-trial Hearing
Contact Commander Dubik
Rally at the gates of Fort Lewis, 8-11 am, exit 119

January 20-22, 2007
Citizens’ Hearings
Evergreen State College, Tacoma campus
Tacoma, WA

February 5, 2007
Court Martial Trial Begins
National Call to Action
more details to come

For more information contact info@ltwatada.org.

Make your 2007 New Year’s Resolution to Stand with Lt. Watada Against Illegal and Immoral War

On Monday, February 5, 2007 take action against the Iraq war and in support of Lt. Watada during his military court martial. Stand up with Lt. Watada and speak out against the illegal and immoral war! Join the national movement and organize student walkouts and non-violent demonstrations. Together let’s build a mass movement in the streets, in our schools, and in our communities to end the Iraq War. On Feb. 5, 2007 rally at the gates of Fort Lewis, Washington or in your local community.

For courageously standing up and speaking out against the Iraq War, New Year’s Eve 2007 may be Lt. Watada’s last holiday as a free man until 2013. While many 28 year-olds are starting their families and building their careers, Ehren will be locked away in military prison for following his conscience and refusing to fight in the Iraq War.

Now it is time for you to follow your conscience and join the national movement to support Lt. Watada and end the Iraq war.

As civilians, the responsibility ultimately falls on us to demand an end to the Iraq war. In fact, we owe it to the soldiers who are fighting and dying in Iraq every day, as well as those resisting the war. We must all stand up and speak out against the war and in support Lt. Ehren Watada!

Currently, the Bush Administration is planning to deploy 30,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq, yet the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the Iraq war. Since 2003 the war has cost 3,000 U.S. soldiers’ lives, approximately 950,000 Iraqi deaths, 2 trillion U.S tax dollars or approximately 8 billion dollars a week. We can no longer stand by and continue to allow this great injustice to occur!

“My fellow soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq and their families are suffering because of the lies and deceptions crafted by the Bush Administration. The Iraq war is not only a crime against domestic and international law but [it] is a terrible moral injustice against the Iraqi people.” Lt. Ehren Watada

As the first Army officer to publicly speak out against the war and refuse deployment to Iraq, Lt Watada will be punished by the U.S. Army with a maximum six years in prison. The military’s intention IS to SILENCE VOICES OF RESISTANCE and make an example out of Lt. Watada.

Lt. Watada’s bold actions have raised the consciousness of thousands of Americans about the illegality and immorality of this war, but his actions alone will not stop the Iraq war. If Lt. Watada is willing to sacrifice his freedom, then we, too, must voice our opposition and take action to end the war.

Take Action Feb. 5, 2007 during Lt. Watada’s military court martial and make your 2007 New Year’s Resolution to Stand with Lt. Watada Against Illegal and Immoral War.



Pass this message on to three friends and ask them to join the Lt. Watada Support campaign.
Tell-a-friend!

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Action Center – Lt. Watada Support Campaign.

Reality strikes my day off…

Friday, January 5th, 2007

I think I’m losing it…seriously…i think I’m forgetting the meaning of words like “peace” and “ceasefire” and “routine”. Today I had a day off and went to meet a friend of mine from Bethlehem who has recently started a new job with UNESCO in Ramallah. We met for a long lunch and then went shopping in Ramallah’s busy town centre. Then the army arrived. Bulldozers first, shunting parked cars out of the way, some into shop fronts. Close behind were the armoured jeeps. No announcements: tear-gas, then sound grenades, then live fire. A helicopter above, backing up he ground troops with overhead fire. We were caught so unaware that I have to admit we both panicked and fled with other shoppers, young and old into the nearest store. We flinched and held hands with every gunshot and explosion from the other side of the metal shutters. .
Of course, we needn’t have worried. This was just a “routine arrest operation”. So tell me, am I losing it? Have I been here too long? What exactly is routine about four dead people and twenty seriously injured? Routine to me was mothers and children, on holiday from school, going about their business, buying food and clothes, meeting friends for lunch….right?
Today in Palestine: Ramallah raided, Bethlehem raided, Tubas raided, two villages close to Bethlehem raided, four dead, 35 injured, 9 arrested, so far. But Israel wants only peace and to protect itself from terrorists. A new colony approved in the West Bank to house the illegal Israeli “settlers” removed from the Gaza strip; 55,000 new Israeli houses to be built on land stolen from the village I volunteer in, the village that now has an unemployment rate of around 75%….peace?
Like I say, i really think i’m losing it, I hear the words Israel speaks but my eyes won’t let me believe them…anyone any advice for a confused girl?

3G in Japan vs stagnation in the US

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

Regarding WiFi in Japan vs the US, Jesse wrote:

We already have 4G in Japan…. and it is already too slow but boasts speeds of 100mbps.
3g is only good for non-mobile systems. It only goes a max of 384kbps for mobile systems, and that is if it has a good connection…

Dude explained:

beacause the US is so concerned with “preserving the free market”, our
government refuses to mandate a standard. Therefore, we have
competing standards and no one wants to risk buying and deploying the
wrong standard. In addition, we have a state (and federal)
legislature that is woefully ill-prepared for considering such issues,
and they have been swindled by the telecom industry who has lobbied
them to believe that making it illegal for municipalities to deploy
free WiFi networks is in the public interests. It is argued that the
public sector is inherently ill-equipped to handle such a high-tech
utility and will ultimately result in mismanagement and excessive
taxpayer expense. Of course the truth is that huge telecom copmanies
like AT&T (Formerly SBC), Verizon, Time Warner, etc. want to force
people to buy WiFi and they conjure up these tortured arguments so
that they can make more money at the expense of progress. The result
is that Japan has 4G WiFi all over the city and in subways and other
difficult areas, and that most major cities in the US have spotty
cellular service for which people pay through the nose, and no free
WiFi. Isn’t laissez faire capitalism awesome!?!?