Cindy Sheehan: Conduct Unbecoming

I don't know Lt. Ehren Wataba, but I know his mother, and spoke at length with her back in May in Hawaii about how Ehren morally did not want to go to Iraq and how he was being harassed by other members of his unit for his beliefs that the war in Iraq was wrong and that he didn't want to kill innocent people for BushCo.

Ehren tried everything he could within regulations and legal means to be excused from going over to the war crime in Iraq and becoming a war criminal himself; nothing worked, so he refused to be deployed with his unit.

Today he was charged with missing movement, contempt towards officials and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman! Are they kidding me? Are they kidding the world and hiding behind an ancient code while they are pretending that anything about Iraq or our government is "gentlemanly?"

How about looking at the Commander in Chief of our armed forces, George Bush, for one? George Bush is a dry drunk who runs our country like he ran all of his failed businesses - with an attitude that if he screws up, his daddy, or his daddy's friends, will bail him out. He has already said that the problem of Iraq will be solved by "future presidents" which absolves and excuses him from cleaning up the murderous mess that he has made.

George Bush and his daddy used their contacts to get him a spot in the Texas Air National Guard during Vietnam. When he was transferred to the Alabama Air National Guard he never showed up to complete his military commitment to the United States. Now I have no problem with Georgie, or "I had other priorities" five-deferment Dicky, getting out of going to the war crime in Vietnam, but to grow up and strong arm your way into the CIA to fix intelligence and to deceive a country and play on its fears to lead us into another war crime is inexcusable and cowardly.

To also underscore what a "gentleman" our president is, when he was asked about meeting with me when we were camped outside of his ranch, within spittin' distance, he said that he "had to get on with his life." How nice that George is able to get on with his life! Wish I had that option. It's so nice that George can "get on with his life" when he has sent so many off to lose theirs and steal the lives of others. George can be very flippant about it because he has no flesh and blood in harm's way and he never attends any funerals or allows any pictures of flag-draped coffins to offend his sensibilities so he can get on with his life bike riding or destroying the world.

Donald "you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want" and he of the famous machine-signed condolence letters Rumsfeld is Lt. Wataba's civilian leader in the Pentagon. Donny has constantly and consistently ignored advice for more troops from generals in the field and we can be sure that when he makes his unannounced visits to Iraq he travels in heavily armored vehicles and is far better protected than our troops, even when he moves about DC. I have an idea! How about not sending our young people off to fight, die and kill innocents in an illegal and immoral war whether they are prepared or not!

We have already mentioned "5 Deferment Dick" and his Doctrine of the Insurgency Last Throes - what more can be said of the ungentlemanly conduct of our nation's shadow president? How about when he told Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont to go and "f**k" himself on the Senate floor? How about mistaking your best friend for a dove and shooting him in the face while allegedly intoxicated and waiting until 24 hours to report it so there would be no evidence of the intoxication? How about the coincidence of the company that he used to run being awarded billions of no-bid contracts in the Iraq war crime? Just his ever present sneer with the raising of one eyebrow as if he is incessantly smelling something awful is distinctly ungentlemanly!

There are so many examples of Ungentlemanly Conduct in BushCo that the examples could fill pages and pages. How about allowing the people of New Orleans to hang off their houses while George plays guitar and eats birthday cake with John McCain? How about when Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked about the unnecessary and tragic number of 2500 when that casualty number was reached and he said, "It is only a number." How about all of the administration lying about mushroom clouds and terrorism in Iraq with colored pie charts and pointing sticks? The list goes on. The list goes on.

Everyone, male or female, in the Bush Regime should be charged with Ungentlemanly Conduct which is Article 133 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Lt. Wataba should be set free and allowed to carry on with his life because it is also in the UCMJ that a soldier has a duty to disobey an unlawful order, and from our own Constitution to international law, everything about Iraq is unlawful (UCMJ ART. 90-920).

Lt. Wataba also took an oath to defend our country from all enemies "foreign and domestic" and one doesn't have to cross any international borders to find the enemies of freedom and of life that we all have to be defended from.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Lt. Ehren Wataba for doing your duty.

Cindy Sheehan is on Day 3 of the Troops Home Fast. She is mother of Spec. Casey A. Sheehan, who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is co-founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace and author of 2 books: Not One More Mother's Child and Dear President Bush.

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