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Lt. Watada's Act of Conscience and the Choice for Every ICE Officer [1]

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Date: 2025-06-12

[It is nearly 10 years since the publication of this piece on my Dailykos blog -- and nearly 20 years since Lt.Watada faced court-martial for his act of conscience. As Trump and his minions drag our nation into ever greater ACTS OF EVIL, we may remind ourselves that no matter how overwhelmed by the immediacy and power of that EVIL in our own personal lives -- we still have the freedom to choose our own response to it. No matter what our station in life, we can RESIST. ....What appears below is that original piece -- which seems as timely and relevant as it was a decade ago]:

A decade ago Lt. Ehren Watada -- though he willingly volunteered to serve in Afghanistan -- refused deployment to Iraq to fight in a war which -- based on his extensive studies of international law, historical documents (including the infamous "Downing Street Memo" that admitted the "intelligence and facts were being fixed around a policy [of war]," as well as multiple discussions with veterans returning from Iraq -- he concluded was unlawful and immoral. For his act of conscience, Lt. Watada was court-martialed, facing up to 7 years of prison. At his trial Watada argued that his orders, conflicting with the US Constitution, which he had sworn to uphold, were unlawful. The trial ended in a mistrial and, ultimately, Watada was discharged "Under Other than Honorable Conditions." Such was the price he was willing to pay. Watada is one of many historical examples of those who, morally repulsed by orders from their institutional superiors, must decide their own response. And while it is true that some like Thoreau believe that "under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison," not everyone faced with the immoral, the unethical, the unlawful has chosen an overt declaration of conscience and active resistance which can not be ignored.

History reveals other paths of morally based resistance.

In the "Waring Era of 16th century Japan, for example, the ruthless military general, Oda Nobunaga, determined that the fearsome warrior monks of Mount Hieia stood between him and domination over virtually all Japan. He ordered his chief lieutenant, Hideyoshi, to crush them utterly and absolutely. Hideyoshi was commanded to set fire to the sacred mountain, and then slaughter everyone -- man, woman and child -- as they fled. Hideyoshi was horrified, but he knew that he, himself would be executed if he openly defied his commander. Some historians report that Hideyoshi ordered his soldiers:

"DO NOT KILL THOSE YOU DO NOT SEE...."

...And in the ensuing battle his troops deliberately Turned a Blind Eye to the fleeing women and children -- thus sparing them.

There are times in history when conscience dictates Open Resistance to EVIL, and other moments when Resistance takes the form of a Blind Eye which spares the innocent. Each of us, faced with EVIL, must choose one path of resistance or another -- and forever take responsibility for that choice.

Whatever that path, it can never be the path of acquiescence or compliance.

Like Lt. Watada before them, those who serve as ICE officers swear an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States agains all enemies, foreign and domestic." Lt. Watada's two-decade old act of conscience should remind each ICE officer of the profound obligation inherent in that oath to serve the sacred principles of our 250 year old democracy, rather than the dictates of an inhumane, immoral executive order. Resistance may range from: ...an open refusal to obey,... ...to [it should be noted, an entirely lawful] resignation in protest from ICE, .... ....to simply "not seeing" those who are imperiled by the present EVIL, and, thus, sparing them.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/12/2327596/-Lt-Watada-s-Act-of-Conscience-and-the-Choice-for-Every-ICE-Officer?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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